Second Life
by KrIsSs92
Summary: Following the events of the anime Akame ga Kill, Tatsumi dies and prepares for the afterlife. But instead death, before him appears a dragon who appears to be The Great Red. He sends the boy in a another world, giving him a second chance to live, just to be attacked and almost dies. Then he gets saved by a girl, named Rias Gremory, who is a devil and reincarnates him as a devil.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey there! It`s been a while, hasn`t it?! :D Finally after three long months and half of being absent, I am able to live my activity a bit. So yeah, it`s another story from me for which I decided to use the anime Akame ga Kill and High School DxD. Yeah… another crossover. I know some may be sick of my other one "Reborn as a Campione", but I had this idea since three weeks now without managing to start it. The truth is that right now I am out of ideas for both my two first stories, so I thought of starting this one having lot of ideas and stuff.**

**The main character of this fanfic will be Tatsumi, who after dying meets The Great Red dragon, who sends him in Hs DxD world. There he will start living a life as demon, helping his friends out and fighting for them. There most certainly will be someone to be paired with him, which for now lean to Akeno, Xenovia or Rias. But maybe there will be a harem for him too, just like in the series that he comes from so I`m not going to give it all just yet, so don`t hate me. **

**So I hope you like my new little project. Feedbacks are welcomed, critiques as well, but please no HATE. If someone wants to comment just to spread hate and start conflict, then he/she better leave if they don`t like anything, since I`m not forcing anyone to against his/her will.**

**ENJOY!**

_**Chapter 1 - Start of the second life**_

There laid the dead body of the brown-haired boy, who just gave his life to protect the citizens of the capital from the falling Emperor`s teigo, by stopping it with his last strength. Now wrapped in Akame`s arms, one of his precious friends with whom he fought to change the unfair country in which they lived. His heart seemed to have stopped and now the teen waited for the long reunion with his fallen friends – Sayo, Ieyasu, Sheele, Bulat, Chelsea, Lubbock, Susanno and Mine. It looked like a wonderful place to spend eternality, without any concept of time. However, no matter how much he waited that did not happen nor seemed what will anytime soon. The boy started wondering what is going on.

"Am I really dead?" Tatsumi said to himself. "It feels like I am still a step away from eternal peace. But what could be possible holding me?"

Suddenly, his eyes felt the heavy need to open once more and he didn`t have any control at all. It seemed like his eyes weren`t his, but of someone else.

"I guess I still don`t want to die. There were many things that I wanted to do." He tried answering the question himself. Honestly, how helpless can I …" He tried to say something when some kind of creature appeared before him. The blurry effect he head in the beginning slowly started to fade away, cleaning the image in front of him.

Just like that. the boy focused his vision on the creature and first didn`t believe what he was seeing. Right before him stood a big, red dragon with huge wings and a horn on his forehead. It looked really frightening and strong. The two big eyes it had stared directly at Night Raid`s member as if he would either eat or hypnotize him. Tatsumi was left stunned without knowing what to do, because of the reason that he had never seen any dragons such as these, even the dragon that Kurome controlled with her Imperial Arm paled before this one. Silence was controlling the entire area around them and it appeared it will stay like that, when it happened. The one thing that the brown-haired boy never expected from a danger beast, it spoke.

"**I am 'The Great Red' dragon and this space is my territory."** The dragon said with a loud voice.

Tatsumi remained silent, unable nor to do or say something and continued to stare at the beast, amazed by its size and the fact that it actually could talk.

"**Tell me human, do you know what this place is?"** The Great Red questioned and without waiting for a replay continued. **"This is the Dimensional Gap that exists between worlds. A place which unknown to most and is known by few."** It stopped for a moment and started talking again. "**Here time doesn`t have any value at all, thus whoever is trapped in it doesn`t age or doesn`t change."**

"Why I am seeing this place when I am supposed to be dead?" The boy asked with a calm voice, not taking an eye from the giant beast.

"**You are dead, but that is only in the world from which you come from."** The dragon explained and stopped for a while. **"Human, now I will ask you a question and it is up to you to answer honestly. What happens next depends on your answer alone."** Tatsumi nodded, letting out a sign of understanding and the dragon saw that. **"Do you truly wish to die or to live instead?"**

Even after preparing himself for the worst, the question caught the boy off guard, forcing him to sink into a deep thought going through it over and over, being careful not to answer wrong. He moved his eyes from the dragon and bowed his head down, staring at the endless space beneath them. The silence in the atmosphere made it completely look like the time has stopped as neither the boy or The Great Red moved a muscle. That was until Tatsumi lifted his head with a look in his eyes that show his determination to answer.

"I don`t want to die yet. I still want to live." He said and looked straight at the creature in front of him.

"**Good answer, human. Go now and live then!"** By saying that, the dragon roared with all its might and flames started covering the entire space, until the boy fully vanished in them. However, no pain came from that and instead the teen felt his consciousness fading away.

Everything went black in front of him with the feeling that his body and mind separated and no longer could reunite. The fear of the unknown started taking over him with every second as he started wondering where he will be taken and what he is supposed to do there.

All of a sudden, his eyes shot wide open and he saw the sun, which was shining right in the boy`s face, forcing him to get up in a sitting position as quick as possible. After taking sit on what seemed to be the ground, he took a look in every possible direction in order to check the area. Strangely looking buildings were surrounding him almost from every side, some kind of transport with four wheels, which moved in fairly high speed for what he had seen before. Night Raid`s member remained unmoving for quite awhile, only staring at everything he saw, when he decided to get up and start walking with the idea to find more about where and what kind is this place. When Tatsumi did so, he blinked few times in surprise to his cloths untouched and clean as if nothing really happened back when fighting the Emperor`s Imperial Arm.

Walking through the streets, the brown-haired teen continued to see more and more new things that were out of his knowledge, but what left biggest impression was that the people he crossed paths dressed way beyond his understanding and seemed truly happy. It was something that the assassin noticed right away and compared it to the life of the people in his world, who pretended to be happy, but deep inside they were always wary of the rest, fearing that death could reach them in the blink of an eye. However, here he couldn`t fell even the slightest sign of fear and despair in the passing people. No one seemed to pay attention to the boy, neither looked cautious of him and the sign of alert couldn`t be sensed anywhere, which made him to drop his guard and walk more freely around.

Time passed so fast that the green-eyed teen didn`t even realized when the sun has set in the distance horizon and the moon rose high above in the sky. The streets becoming less lively as most of the humans appeared to have gone back home. Strong wind started blowing from the east, which sent a cold chill down Tatsumi`s spine, marking the occurrence of night. He got the idea and started walking a little bit faster in order to find a shelter for the night. In less than ten minutes, Night Raid`s member found himself standing in front of a fountain in what some park. It had a circle form, but it wasn`t that big, the water fell from somewhere like four meters. There he spotted a young woman and a young man standing next to it and talking to each other, who the assassin thought that they must be a couple or perhaps husband and a wife. Not paying attention to them, the teen went to the fountain and bowing his head down, he took a look at his reflection in the crystal clear water. Time seemed like it stopped as a deep silence moved in when the sound of of footsteps ringed in his ears, making him lift his head.

Turning around, the boy saw a person around his age, or at least that was what he thought, coming at his direction and that of the two people near him. The man wore a dark blue coat, under which he had a white skirt, continued by blue jeans and black shoes, and cross that was hanged on his neck. He had white-short hair and red eyes and insane smile on his face.

"What do we have here, a lone boy and a couple in the park at this time at night." The person spoke with a laughing tone attached to his voice. "Didn`t your parents tell you not to do that, otherwise you may meet some bad people." Finishing, he took out a strange sword and stood threatening before the humans.

'What is this guy?' Tatsumi asked in his mind.

Seeing the weapons, the woman gasped in panic and hurried to hide behind her lover. Noticing that, the white-haired boy decided to go for the lone target and dashed at the assassin, who didn`t have time to do anything else than dodge by jumping to the left, after which he rolled backwards few meters, creating a safe distance between them. This in turn made the attacker to turn towards the couple and attacked the man by swinging with his sword again, aiming straight for the target`s head. Fortunately, the latter was able to escape by leaning backwards, while falling on the ground on top of the woman, after which he rolled to the left, but sadly his lover found herself facing the dangerous boy. Further it appeared that the white-haired teen didn`t mind changing his prey and aimed his sword down at the human, threatening to pierce her heart.

Blood splashed on the ground as it started creating a big puddle, which expanded by the second as it all looked like the attacker stroke down his target, except for the fact that it wasn`t the female, who was stabbed, but the green-eyed teen. Just before the woman was struck dead, Tatsumi jumped before the falling weapon and used his body to shield the unknown person behind him. The couple stood in shock and just watched as how someone, who`s a complete stranger to them, was willing to go this far.

"Take her and run from here." The brown-haired male said, turning towards the man. "Now!" He added by shouting.

"Thank you!" The latter thanked, after which he went next to the woman, picked her up and together they ran in the darkness of the park.

"What a touching scene? You sacrificed yourself to let them escape." The white-haired boy spoke up with a mocking tone.

However, the former assassin didn`t reply with words and instead gave the opponent a quick and strong head butt, which forced the man two meters back as he pulled the sword out of the other boy`s body. More blood escape from the whole in the green-eyed male`s body, but this didn`t even seem to bother him at slightest. What troubled him was the fact that there was a dangerous foe against him, who was obviously planning on killing someone tonight, regardless of who it was.

Seeing that Tatsumi isn`t going to act soon, the attacker decided to strike first and ran at the boy, starting to swing his sword again and again, aiming it for the target`s head as if he was an executioner, but all of his attempt ended in vain as they were all dodged by the latter. Witnessing that, the unknown boy brought his gun into action as well, shooting after the moving target with the hope to ease his work a little by not moving much. Surprisingly for him, the prey dodged every single one of the bullets with the same ease that he dodged the sword strikes, which angered the attacker and that was way to obvious.

"You are an agile one, aren`t you?" The man commented in a laugher.

'This is bad. The wound that I received from earlier is a little too close to my heart, which without doubt will start to affect on my moves soon enough.' The former member of Night Raid said to himself. 'I better counterattack soon or try to run from him.'

"If an ordinary way won`t work on you, then what do you say we speed up the show a little?" The enemy said and took something out of his pocket and threw it at the ground.

Upon the contact of the object with surface, a bright white light erupted from it as started glowing strongly, forcing the green-eyed teen to use his right hand to cover his eye. The light glowed for the next few minutes and after it finally faded there was literally no signs of the human in front, surprising the boy in the process.

'Where did…' The former assassin tried to analyze the situation, but stopped when a dangerous feeling came from behind as the opponent appeared from the back and prepared to attack once again.

"I got you now." The boy shouted and swung his sword at the target`s back.

Fortunately, Tatsumi sensed the danger beforehand and by making a couple of topples over forward, managed to dodge in the last possible moment, leaving the attacker unsatisfied again as his target just refused to give up and become a dead meat.

"Quite dodging, damn it. I feel frustrated after losing to some shitty devils and I need to let out my anger on someone, so just stop running and let me slice you up already." The attacker said, obviously losing his patience.

"What are you talking about?" Night Raid`s member asked, but was ignored by the enemy.

"Never mind, I just need you to drop dead…" The latter tried to reply, but got cut off when a voice rang through the air.

"Attacking innocent people just, because you are unable to handle your problems. You really are pathetic." The same voice echoed again as the both boys saw a figure coming out of the dark.

It was girl. She had a crimson hair that was long all the way to her thighs and blue eyes. Her attire consisted of a white-long sleeved, button-down shirt with a black ribbon on her shirt collar worn under a black shoulder cape and a matching button-down corset, a magenta skirt with white accents, and a brown dress shoes over white crew-length socks.

"Well, well, it looks like I stumbled on the big fish." The white-haired teen replied as if he knew the woman in front of him.

"I don`t know why are you here, but that`s enough of you terrorizing others." The female said and looked at him threatening.

"Don`t get too cocky, you bitch!" The boy shouted and dashed towards her. "It seems you are alone this time. Now I can easily cut you in two."

However, she didn`t answered and pointed her right hand at the incoming threat. The next second, a strange red light appeared from it and she aimed it at the opponent, sending him couple of meters back, until he hit a nearby tree, breaking it in the progress. The tree fell on the ground and as a result its branches buried the place where he landed, making it like a mountain of wood readied to be lighten up by fire. Silence moved for the next three minutes silence moved in, before the white-haired buy jumped out and began to shot at the girl with his gun again and again. Sadly for him, she deflected every single one of them with such an ease that irritated him by the second.

"I will remember this, you missy." He screamed and took out another flashlight of his jacket and threw it, blinding the area of the commotion.

'It`s over at last.' Tatsumi thought to himself, after which he simply fell on the ground as the pain from the wound started hurting more than earlier. 'I guess it`s a miracle I managed to last this long in this condition.' He commented in his mind, while looking at the place where the attacker was a moment ago.

Suddenly, his eyes caught the picture of what appeared to be the girl`s shoes, making him lift his head in order to take a better look at her. She stood there with a worried expression on her face as she immediately kneeled next to him and started pressing the wound on his body with her hands.

"Are you alright?" She questioned with a carrying voice.

"I have been better." The boy muttered weakly, but still enough to be heard.

"Here, I will help you stand up." The female said and attempted to lift him, but stopped when something made her back a step behind into a standing position. "Do you posses a Sacred Gear." She asked something, but the teen could not understand what could be she talking about.

Tatsumi just stared at her and tried to saturate himself with her looks. That crimson hair, those blue eyes, that figure, they were all incredible to the point that the former assassin thought her as one of the most beautiful women he ever met in his side alongside with beauties such as Akame, Chelsea, Leone, Sheele and Esdeath. Besides that, her aura that flowed around her was that of nice, kind and a generous person, which remained him of his fellow clumsy purple-haired female friend from Night Raid. All of that distracted him from the first thoughts that crossed his mind, which were how he got another chance to live just to find on the blink of death again, not even a day after his new life.

"I will be very thankful if you can accompany me in my last moments." The boy said coughing some blood, while not moving his eyes from the figure of the woman in front of him.

The latter on the hand stood unmoving and was wondering what to do. At first, she thought of calling an ambulance. However, the boy`s last words made her think other that exceeded the human`s methods of treating the wounded and on top of that the feeling that she received just moments ago was itching her from the inside as if she wanted to do something complete else than calling for help.

'There isn`t a much of a choice, so…' She tried to think of an solution when something hit her out of nowhere. 'Wait, I have an rook piece and four pawn pieces that were given back to me after Ise`s evil pieces become two mutation instead of eight.' Saying that, it appeared that she had reached to conclusion as her face became determinate, which the green-eyed teen instantly noticed.

All of a sudden, she kneeled next to him again and just like that a smile formed on her face, followed by her sweet voice. "If you are so willing to thank me and live, then I shall grant your wish." She added and took his head in her hands.

After that, the crimson-haired woman took something out of her left pocket and showed it to the boy. In her hand there were some kind of little figures that were colored in white and after focusing his vision he managed to recognize them as five chess pieces – four pawns and one rook. Just like that, the female putted the rook one back into her pocket, while the others placed on top of the Tatsumi`s body. Next, she stood up just as as a strange red light began to glow in the area around the pieces, including him as well.

"Live for my sake!" The woman said, while still smiling at him.

It was that moment, when the boy`s eyes started to slowly close, until the black picture appeared again. He felt his consciousness fading away, losing concept of what is happening and what will happen next with him and will he live or die. That was the question, which mattered to him the most, putting everything aside.

Waking up again, the assassin blinked twice at the sight or what appeared to be a ceiling of a room. He instantly jumped into a sitting position and decided to make a quick full around in order to check where he is. It turned out that he was indeed in a room with a unknown location to him and without any idea what time it is, only that it must be somewhere in the morning when the sunlight shine in his face. After successfully calming down, the teen let a sigh of relief of the thought that he must be alive and it was than when he found the fact that he was bare naked sitting on a bed. Seeing this, the former assassin started looking for his cloths, but no matter where he looked, there was no sign of them, but managed to spot a blanket next to him. Grabbing it with his right hand, the boy pulled it to wrap himself in it, but as soon as he did so, the view of pair of two soft, big breasts popped right before him. And on top of that, it turned out that they belonged to none other, but the crimson-haired girl, who saved him yesterday.

As if feeling his eyes staring at her, she slowly opened her one and with a sleepy face and after wiping the sleepiness from her eyes, she started looking around when her attention was stopped on the naked boy.

"Good morning!" She greeted with a smile.

"G-Good morning!" He replied, still being surprise about why is he seeing this girl fully naked, without even knowing her. "Where are we?" He carefully asked still looking at the girl, who seemed to not matter sharing her figure with him. "And why are we both naked in the first place?"

"This is rest room in our base operating house." She answer back and seeing the obvious shock in the boy continued to speak. I took you here after reincarnating you in order to completely tend yours wound, although there was a better choice for that part, but it seems like I have succeeded. And as why we are naked, it`s because my healing magic works better on the skin directly."

"Reincarnated me?" Tatsumi repeated with uncertain voice, showing his biggest impression on that part.

"That`s right, as devil that is." She explained shortly.

"Did you say a devil? What does that mean?" The brown-haired boy asked another question.

"My name is Rias Gremory and I am a devil as well as your master from now on." The girl answered calmly. "That leads to my question, what is your name?"

"Tatsumi, it`s just Tatsumi." The green-eyed male introduced as simply as he could.

"It`s a nice name. And what about a second name?" Being curious, the girl asked right away.

"I don`t have one, because… well… it`s like that where I came from. Although, I myself don`t know why is that. " The assassin said, scratching the tip of his chin.

"I see. Well, then… It`s nice to have you, Tatsumi." Rias said and smiled at him.

"It`s nice to have…" He began with his reply, but stopped at the second he that he was repeating what his ears caught. "What do you mean by 'have you'?

"Well, you are my servant now, so it`s obviously that you are my property as of this moment." Rias explained and let out a slight giggle.

'Her sake, she says.' The brown-haired boy commented in his mind. 'Well, I will think about it later.' He said and put up on more serious expression on his face as he spoke up. "By the way, thank you for saving me yesterday."

"It`s nothing. I was just passing by when I heard a familiar voice and went to check it. Who knew it would be that insane exorcist." She explained.

"Does that mean you know who he is?" Tatsumi questioned.

"Yes, he shows from time to time and threatens us devils. Last time, he was helping another race, called fallen angels, when we won and if I remember correct, he was to be in prison." She said and stopped for a moment. "But that`s enough for now. I will explain you everything in detail later when the rest of the group gets here. Until then, you stay here while I am out on some private business. I prepared some spare cloths for you in the wardrobe."

"Okay." Was the boy`s short replay.

After that, the girl dressed up and left the room and the house as well. Tatsumi remained behind as told and decided to explore the house in the meantime in order to avoid getting bored. Exploring it, the boy to the conclusion that it was fairly big house, it had a kitchen, both a bathroom and a bath and a huge hall that was well furnished. However, it appeared smaller than the one in which he lived back when he was a member of Night Raid. Still, the atmosphere around was really making him feel at ease and he enjoyed that to the max.

Couple of hours passed and he was still alone, waiting for Rias and the other part of the group to come. That was giving him slightly alarming feeling as he knew that they definitely won`t welcome him with open arms so fast and that was the problem. Past experience though him that getting into the picture of a group of unknown people is really difficult. Back when he joined the assassin`s group, everyone treated him like a extra-luggage and didn`t trust him much, which especially was the case with sniper of the group, Mine. She often mocked him and said he won`t become a part of them. However, he deeply hoped that it will turn like this case in the end, where he can be trusted and respected by others.

Currently being at the hall, Tatsumi sat on a black couch and supporting his head on his hand and continued to think about various stuff, while enjoying the silence that was ruling over the place. Suddenly, the front door opened and three figures appeared from there, one boy and two girls was what he saw on a first sight. However, when they entered the room, he recognized them as two boys and one girl.. The first boy had a brown-spiky hair that resembled his pretty much, light brown eyes and was tall around Tatsumi and probably somewhere around his age as well. His clothing consisted of a blazer over a white, long-sleeved dress shirt with black highlights with a black ribbon on the collar, matching black pants, and brown dress shoes. The second one was a boy with a platinum blonde hair and pink eyes, who the assassin at first mistook for a girl, since the cloths he wore were just like that of the girl next to him. As for the only present female, she had a long blond hair and green eyes, with cloths which consisted of black sweater vest over her dress shirt in place of the cape and corset.

"So you are the one that the President was talking about?" The brown-haired teen questioned.

"Yes." The former assasin replied and stood and walked over to the three and reached his right hand in order to make a handshake. "My name is Tatsumi."

"Nice to meet you, the name is Hyoudou Issei." The other boy returned and took the stretched hand. "Wait, just Tatsumi?! What about a second name?"

"Same goes here. Well, I don`t have a second name." The former Night Raid`s member answered. "You could say it`s my country`s policy not have a one or something like that."

"Really? That`s some strange country then." Issei said in a surprise.

'You don`t have any idea by how much 'that`s some' describes it.' The green-eyed male thought to himself ironically as he remembered the Empire in which he lived.

"I am Asia Argento." The blonde girl introduced herself and bowed down. "And this is Gasper Valdi." She pointed to the other boy that was next to her left, who bowed down as well. "He is…"

"…a boy, right?" Tatsumi guessed, shocking them in the progress.

"You can tell?" Hyoudou questioned with wide opened eyes.

"Honestly, I did mistook him for a girl at first, but after taking a better look I saw his boy-like face. " The brown-haired boy explained.

"You are interesting one." Issei said, cracking up a smirk.

"Excuse me for convincing you. I didn`t do it on purpose." Finally making his debut, the other boy apologized and hid behind Asia.

"Eh, it`s okay." The former assassin reassured him that he doesn`t mind and let out a sigh of relief. "Is that the rest that had to come?" He turned towards Issei.

"No, there are four other members that we are waiting, five if we include the President." The other boy answered.

"By the President, do you mean that crimson-haired woman?" Tatsumi asked.

"Yup! Rias Gremory, she`s the head of our club and our master." Hyoudou explained.

"So you are devils as well?" Tatsumi shot his next question.

"That`s right. Everyone in this club is a devil." Asia answered instead of Issei.

"Well, let`s not just wait standing here and go take a sit, because I am tired from school today." The brown-eyed teen said and made a big yawn, stretching his arms as high as he could.

They followed the boy`s suggestion and took a sit at the sofa and started talking about various stuff, while waiting for the rest of the group to show up and when the time comes for Tatsumi to explain everything before them.

**So this is chapter 1 of "Second Life". I hope you liked what`s written above and that you will leave enjoyed. As mentioned at the start, I welcome feedbacks even if they are critiques with the only request to not just hate about how someone doesn`t like the OTP of the story, or the characters in it, or the idea of the fan fic, or the story itself. I know there is always room for improvement, so you won`t read me praising myself too much.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2 - New family**_

Later the same day, everyone gathered in the house to meet with the new addiction to the team, Tatsumi and it was then that the teen a very nostalgic feeling that he some remembered having when he was introduced to the whole Night Raid and just like then, now he was feeling uneasy being the center of attention. The last four, who they awaited to come were also present – Himejima Akeno, Xenovia Quarta, Koneko Tojou and Yuuto Kiba. Akeno was a girl with a buxom figure, long violet hair and black eyes. Her hair was tied in a ponytail reaching all the way down to her legs with two strands sticking out from the top and sloping backwards, with an orange ribbon keeping it in place. She was tall somewhere around as him. Next come Xenovia, a young woman with chin-length blue hair with a green fringe on the right side and dark yellow eyes and seemed to be close to his age. Koneko was petite girl around 15 years old with white hair and hazel eyes. Her front hair had two long bangs going past her shoulders and several loose bangs hanging over her forehead, while the back has a short bob cut. The three female`s attire was exactly the same as Rias`s and Asia`s. And finally the picture was completed with Yuuto, a young man with short blonde hair, grey eyes and a mole under his left eye, wearing cloths as Issei.

Currently, they just finished with the explanation about the devils, the other factors and the structure of the club by ranks, which at first sounded pretty unbelievable to the former assassin, but it didn`t take him long to accepts those supernatural things. Now was Tatsumi`s turn to explain more about himself as he felt the pressure going through his entire body and if it wasn`t for the training he had while being an assassin, he would have given to panic from the start. Everyone looked at the boy with suspicious eyes, expecting him to start explaining as if their patience was running out or will anytime soon.

"Well, how should I start? As all of you know by now, my name is Tatsumi. To tell the truth, I come from another world without any connections with this one."

"What? Did you say another world?" Issei shouted, being as shocked as everyone rest in the room.

"What do you mean by that?" Rias questioned, looking straight at the standing boy in front of her.

"Just what I mean, since it happened in the blink of an eye and I couldn`t follow the events very well." The former assassin explained.

"But if that`s true, how did you end up in this one?" Xenovia asked with hands crossed before her chest and eyes that were going to eat him, which gave that she didn`t believe him.

"Due to some events in my world I ended up dying in it and though it`s over for me. But instead after my death hour I met a huge red dragon, who named himself the 'The Great Red' or at least that`s what I remember." Tatsumi said and shot a quick look on everyone`s reaction.

"Did you say a dragon?" Hyoudou blinked few times and turned towards Rias, as if he was expecting her to give more a proper explanation.

"I only have heard a little about it, so I don`t know much either." The crimson-haired woman said and sank into her thoughts.

"It`s the most powerful dragon in existence." A voice with an unknown source echoed through the entire room.

Silence moved in the house hall as the center of attention suddenly turned from the green-eyed teen to Issei, who was sitting on the sofa and had an expression that said 'Why are you looking at me?', but soon got the hint and looked at his left arm.

"Ddraig, do you know that dragon?" The pawn spoke to his arm, which slightly shocked Tatsumi, but he remained silent.

"Yes, as I said he`s the strongest dragon of all, who lives in the Dimensional Gap that exists between universes, so it`s unlikely to be seen very much." The voice replied from Issei`s hand. "In fact not many know about him, which is a wonder that this boy managed to meet him."

After that the attention turned back to the former Night Raid member and he felt the weight of every single eye staring at him, which gave him a sign to continue explaining.

"Now that I think about it, he did said something about the Dimensional Gap and the fact that it is almost impossible for someone to see him, but I didn`t pay attention on that much." He said.

"Then on what?" Akeno questioned with a curious look on her face.

"He asked me if I really want to live or die instead and I answered him that I desire to live. After which everything went blank and I ended up in this world." The brown-haired boy said, finishing his story.

Silence moved once again as no one said nor did anything and just continued to observe the former assassin with a feeling of suspicion, which didn`t go unnoticed by Tatsumi. However, he knew that is how things are and it was normal for them to suspect him of lying as it would be illogical and not normal for them to not. After all past experience tough him not to trust every single person he meets, so he understood how everyone felt at the moment.

"I know none of you believe what I said and that you think I am lying, but I assure you that it is just as I explained." He said, waiting for their reaction. "Whenever you believe it or not it`s up to you."

"I see." Rias spoke up first. "It is true that your story caught us off guard and that it doesn`t sound very believing.

Hearing this, the boy prepared for the worst case scenario, which was telling him to leave at once, but got surprised at what followed instead. The President went next to the boy and placed both her hands on his shoulders and smiled at him.

"However, I too can guarantee you that everyone here believes what you said." She said without losing her smile. "From this moment on forward, we the Occult Research Club welcome you to our family."

Looking behind her, the boy saw the rest smiling at him as if he didn`t said something so strange and unreasonable. Even Xenovia, who at first suspected him most, now had an honest smile on her face.

"The President is right. No matter where you come from, now we will be your family." Issei shouted in agreement.

"I think so too." Yuuto supported his friend. "I`m sure you`ll get used to this place very soon."

"My my, I was just about to say that too. You are not fair, Issei-kun." Akeno spoke next to assure the former Night Raid member.

"I too agree with Issei-senpai, he can come up with good speeches sometimes, although he is a complete pervert." Koneko added, which made Hyoudou slightly embarrassed.

"Now that this problem is solved, let`s move the next one, which is where Tatsumi will live from this moment on?" The crimson-haired beauty said, while taking a sit on her chair again.

"What do you suggest, President? Xenovia questioned as if the topic really interested her.

"Well, now that Issei`s house is rebuild and there are two more rooms that are free, I think he can stay there." Rias replied calmly.

"No, it`s not necessary to go through such trouble for me. I can sleep here if you allow me to." The green-eyed teen politely refused.

"I insist, so please don`t be so modest. There is not a single problem with that." She replied back with a voice that supported her decision.

At first, the newest member of the household thought of trying to win this topic, but seeing the innocent smile on the pure-blooded devil`s face and how she insisted of having her way on made him going with what she wanted.

"Okay, I accept." The former assassin said, backing down on the topic.

"Then, it`s settled." Akeno put an end to the little argument with an innocent smile.

"With that said, club`s dismissed for today. We will meet here tomorrow after school ends." The President said, got up from the chair and headed for the door.

And so everyone went home and much to Tatsumi`s surprise it turned out that all the girls lived in the same house as Issei did and only Yuuto and Gasper went elsewhere, which made things even more suspicious, but as how the boy`s parents looked at Tatsumi as soon as he entered the house he forgot about it. Issei`s father and mother looked really shocked at first as if they were expecting another female instead of him, but their hospitality was over the top. This could not but make tehe former member of Night Raid to let himself relax as the stress that he had earlier today faded in no time.

After dinner, Hyoudou showed the brown-haired boy his room and decided there to talk for a while, before going to bed. He gave the new member of the family some extra cloths he had for just in case with the hope to be of use to him. Currently, he was explaining about the city and the most important places to visit, such as the school, the club house, some shops, supermarkets, coffees and more.

"So this is for now. I am going to bed now. See you tomorrow." Issei said and headed towards the door.

"Hey! Issei! I was meaning to ask you, why are all the girls living under the same roof as you? Not that I mind, I am just being curious." Tatsumi asked and saw a grin forming on his face.

"Well, since you are interested, I will tell you." The boy replied and in less than a second was back next to his friend. "The truth is that President`s brother ordered all the girls to live in my house.

"She has a brother?" The green-eyed teen member asked with wide opened eyes.

"Yes, an older one." Hyoudou explained.

"So why did he do that?" The latter questioned again.

"That`s in order for me to strengthen up both me and my relationships with them." The devil proudly said. "So don`t you dare touch where it`s already has been marked."

"What do you mean by that? Are you creating a harem or something here?" Tatsumi asked in a higher tone.

"Are you an idiot? It`s my dream to create my own harem, so I can be able to touch those wonderful breasts and bodies. I am sure that`s a common men dream." Issei said jumping in a standing position.

"Okay, okay. I am sorry I asked." The new member replied, letting out a sigh of a disappointment.

"Man, you are no fun. Good Night!" Hyoudou said and went out of the room.

'That`s just great! He`s just like Lubbock. It`s going to be one hell of a friendship.' He thought to himself. 'Well, I am looking forward to it.'

The newly become devil remained sitting for couple of minutes before deciding to go the bed as well. Lying and looking at the ceiling, the boy began to recall past memories of his world. It was then he realized that the people from his village must be worried about him, Sayo and Ieyasu, but knew it was already too late to think about those things as they didn`t matter no more. The only thing he hoped was that they would have a better life once the Empire is defeated, which was no doubt done by now. Tatsumi believed that Akame, Leone and the Boss certainly did their best to assure that the remaining obstacles in front of them are eliminated. The only problem was Esdeath, the Empire`s strongest soldier, who killed many people and enjoyed doing so. She was someone with an unshakable viewpoint and no matter how hard he tried, it was just impossible to convince her to join the Revolution Army. Even the fact that the woman fell in love with him didn`t helped at all, she just viewed things differently and remained loyal to the Empire to the very end.

While going through his memories, the brown-haired boy didn`t even noticed when he fell asleep with a smile on his face as the last thing he thought about was the pink-haired girl of Night Raid.

When the morning came, everyone had breakfast and prepared to go school. All except Tatsumi, who remained at Issei`s home. Rias told him to go explore the city if he wanted to, but to be at the club house at 15:00 to meet up with the rest. The boy decided to stay at the house and went to train in the backyard, doing exercises like pushups, abdominal presses and others. At noon he caught Issei`s mother cooking in the kitchen and offered to help, which surprised the woman to see a boy at such age to be able to cook. Next, he cleaned and reorganized his room so it can be easier to live for him, until thirty minutes remained before the meeting and he left the house.

At exactly 15:00 he was in the club operating house and went straight to the hall, where they were supposed to discuss something. Entering that certain room, the brown-haired boy saw Yuuto and Koneko sitting on opposite sides on the table and playing chess, while drinking what seemed to be tea.

"Hello!" He greeted them and headed towards the table as well.

"Good afternoon Tatsumi-kun!" replied taking his eyes from the game.

"Good afternoon!" The white-haired girl greeted shortly.

"Playing chess, are we?" The former assassin questioned as he took a sit next to Tojou.

"You are familiar with this game?" Kiba asked finishing his move.

"Well, it wasn`t so popular in my world, but still it was enough so I can learn the basics." Tatsumi answered.

"Is that so?" The blonde-haired boy questioned as if he was surprised. "Want to play one against me, after I finish this one with Koneko-chan of course."

"Maybe some other time, besides I am not that good at it." The new member of the family refused politely.

"I am not that good either." Kiba stated casually. "Well, the President and Akeno-san are a different story."

"If you say so, then I will believe in it." Tatsumi replied.

"We are here." A voice interrupted them.

Looking at the door, they saw the rest coming in the hall one by one with Issei in front.

"Welcome back!" The three greeted in one voice.

In less than five minutes they all gathered around the glass table in the room, except for the President, who was sitting on her chair in front of the desk. Akeno brought tea for everyone with an extra, piece of cake for Koneko, Asia and herself.

"So what are we going to talk about today?" Hyoudou asked as his patience was running out.

"Tonight we have an order to take out a group of stray devils, who by what I heard, killed their master and some other members of the family." Rias explained.

It didn`t take a second more for Tatsumi to memorize what he just heard. The question of killing was once again brought to his life, just like when he was member of Night Raid.

'So there are tasks like those here as well.' The brown-haired devil thought in his mind.

"You said a group?" Asia questioned.

"That`s right. There are cases like those from time to time, but the most common case is only one devil." The crimson-haired woman explained.

"How many they are?" Xenovia questioned next.

"That`s not known." Akeno interfered in the discussion. "At least the higher ups did not mention anything regarding their numbers."

"So that`s how it is?" Yuuto questioned with a serious voice. "This may turn out quite troublesome."

"I agree. We need to be extra careful tonight." Xenovia stated with a hand on her chin.

"We will live at 18:00, until then you are to use the free time to rest and prepare yourselves." Rias said and got up from her seat. "Meanwhile, I and Akeno have to take care of something, so until we get back you just stay here." Saying so and red circle appeared under them and they just vanished.

"What was that?" Tatsumi questioned Issei, who was sitting next to him.

"That`s the Gremory`s magical circle. It can be used for many things including teleportation." The boy answered.

"I see." The former assassin replied. "By the way, you seem rather calm, considering the difficult mission tonight."

"That`s because I know everything will go just fine, since we have such an amazing and strong team." Hyoudou replied back.

"Are you not being a little bit carefree about it?" The new devil questioned.

"You are just being too serious, that`s all." The other brown-haired boy returned.

"That`s just how Issei is." Xenovia interfered.

"Just shut up." Was Issei`s short reply.

Just like that everyone stayed at the club hall, waiting for the President and Akeno to return and to go and eliminate the strayed devils. And although it was question of other kind of enemies, it was a well known thing for Tatsumi, who realized that he is going on a mission to do the very same thing he did back in his world, which was nothing else than kill the enemy.

**And so chapter 2 of "Second Life" is done. Not much to say here, just that I was able to finish this one rather quickly, being surrounded by the ideas here and there really busted my motivation to write in few of days. I think it turned quite well for such a short time, but I will let you decide that.**

**By the way, I plan to give Tatsumi a second name further in the story, but I haven`t thought of a fitting one so far. So if anyone has some ideas, please feel free to share them with me. I will gladly hear them out. **

**With that said, I`ll be leaving you for now. I hope you liked my second chapter and that you will leave this page enjoyed. : )**__


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3 – Fight to protect**_

At nightfall, Tatsumi and the rest were at an abandoned factory in the outskirts of the city. For the new member of the household, it was quite a hug facility, having the size of the stadium that was used for executions back in his world, except it was not that big considering the height with only two floors. The front gate was incredibly big entirely made of metal, but even so had already started to rust, showing the terrible condition of the factory itself, which gave away why the enemies were hiding here.

Rias decided that it would be best to split in three groups of three each in order to cover more territory, thinking that will increase the chance to find the targets a lot faster than if they stay together and called Issei and Koneko with her. The second mini team consisted of Xenovia, Yuuto and Gasper, while the third was formed of Tatsumi, Akeno and Asia.

The former assassin and the two girls were ordered to check the first and second floor of the east part of the facility, where according to the received information was the director`s office. After walking for half an hour, the group reached to the end of the first floor without having found anything at all. Noticing that, Himejima suggested that they should look for the stairs that lead towards the second one..

"It sure is dusty here." Tatsumi stated, looking at the not lightened part of the path.

"That`s because this factory has been deserted for more than ten years now after it got closed by the Japan government for not being a safe place for the workers." Akeno explained.

"I wonder if there is a switch for the lights in this area." Asia questioned as she walked with hands in front of her chest as if she was praying.

"Even if we find such a switch, it still won`t light anything, because the power generator has been shut down and as long as it remains so, there isn`t a point of turning the switches on." The older girl stated. "Besides, as devils we can see just fine in the dark."

"So that`s why I get the feeling I can see as a owl." The new member of the family said, which made the two females to giggle at his comment.

"I wonder if the others are okay." The blonde girl said with a worried voice, changing the topic all of a sudden.

"I am sure there isn`t a reason to worry about that, since they can take of themselves very well." The queen said with a reassure voice backed up with a smile.

"By the way, what exactly is a stray devil?" Tatsumi questioned and looked straight at Akeno.

"You remember when we explained to you that each clan has master and servants, right?!" The black-haired woman replied and seeing the boy nodding in agreement, continued to explain. "Stray devils are those devils that break apart from their masters with force by leaving or even killing them."

"So in other words, those who went against their masters will?" The former member of Night Raid asked, awaiting his senior to confirm.

"That`s correct. You catch up really fast, Tatsumi-kun." The older girl said and smiled again.

"Please call me only Tatsumi. I feel uneasy hearing something like 'kun' attached to my name." The boy replied back.

"But that would be rude of me." Himejima said with a saddened voice.

"I agree with Akeno-san. So please don`t ask me to remove the 'san' as well." Asia backed her female senior.

"Like I said, it`s not a…" Tatsumi tried to refuse politely, but the sudden turning on the electricity interrupted him.

"It looks like Kiba-kun and the rest have found the power generator. Let`s leave this topic for later and continue looking." Akeno changed the topic and turned towards her juniors, who nodded with heads and so they took a path, which with a sign was said to lead to the stairs.

Meanwhile, Rias and her group were fighting one of the stray devils, which they were supposed to eliminate. Their opponent was man that looked like a giant spider and fought mostly using spider webs, which gave him an advantage when in the darkness. However, now his attempts were completely neutralized by Hyoudou and Koneko.

Currently, the stray devil decided to try escaping by lifting himself to the ceiling and going over his attackers. Unfortunately for him, his actions were read before he even started committing them, which was shown when Gremory`s rook grabbed Issei and threw him straight at the target. As soon as the boy was close enough, he swung his left hand in the form of fist in the opponent`s face, sending him crashing into the nearest wall, after which he just feel on the ground.

"Now then, Mr. Stray devil! It`s time for you to disappear." The crimson-haired woman said, reaching the target, while gathering demonic energy her right hand.

Seeing that, their enemy tried to get up and escape, but was already too late as the pure-blooded devil launched the collected demonic energy at him, which completely devoured him from above in the blink of an eye, leaving not even a single trace of the opponent behind.

"Yeah, we did it!" Issei shouted running towards his senior.

"That was just one of them, though." Rias replied back in a calm matter.

"I don`t sense any stray devils around. They must be somewhere else in this facility." Koneko stated regrouping with her friends.

"We are still on the first floor, so we might have a better luck on the second one." Their master said. "Now let`s move on. After all we don`t have all night to spend in this place."

"We are right behind you." Hyoudou said with a louder voice.

"In any case now it will be a lot easier now that we can see." The older girl stated and led the group ahead.

In that time on the second floor Yuuto, Xenovia and Gasper were done with the previous task and now were looking for their targets. The three still had to find any of the searched enemies, even considering the fact they were sent to the most important part of the factory. Sadly for them, this didn`t appear like enough of a reason for the stray devils to gather in this area of the facility.

Right at the moment, they decided to go downstairs and regroup with the others, thinking that the other groups could have a better luck in finding the opponents. The group was moving in a line formation with Yuuto in front, followed by Gasper in the middle and last was Xenovia. The two knights seemed rather disappointed for not being able to do much, besides turning the power generator, which apparently wasn`t enough for them, The bishop was another story as he looked like he had plenty of the whole place and was ready to go home at anytime, just to be out of here.

"Hey, when are we going to leave this scary place?" The youngest member of the group questioned.

"When we take out all of the stray devils, but don`t worry, I am sure we will be done very soon." The other boy replied.

"But it passed so much time from when we got here and we still haven`t found a single one." Gasper cried out.

"Stop crying, Gasper! We will get out of here when we are done." The blue-haired girl scolded her junior.

"Now now, don`t be…" Kiba tried to calm his friends, but stopped in an instant and stood at one place, giving a sign to the rest to stop as well.

"What is it, Yuuto?" Xenovia asked as she went next to him.

However, he didn`t answer only pointed with his right hand straight hand at couple of boxes. Focusing her sight, the female knight saw the shadow of figure that was obviously hiding behind them.

All of a sudden, a girl that wore a white-short dress jumped out of the pile of boxes all the way to the ceiling and reaching it, she used it to boost herself towards the group.

"Dodge!" The blue-haired girl shouted as they scattered in three different directions, thus avoiding their opponents attack.

Landing on the ground, the stray devil didn`t waste any time and dashed straight at Gasper, who by chance was exactly in front of her. Getting in close range, the enemy opened her mouth in attempt to bite him, but just before that happened she felt her body stopping at something. It was Xenovia, who stopped the attack using her sword and almost immediately pushed the opponent back, sending her few meters back.

Unfortunately for the stray devil, things were turning the other way around, which was showed when Kiba dashed using his speed to his advantage and with a simple and swift swing with his sword, cut her legs before she could land safely. This made the opponent to lose balance in the progress and fall on the ground at the very instant she touched it. Blood started pouring out of damaged parts of the enemy`s body. Their target tried to get up somehow, just to be sliced in two by Gremory`s female knight and her blue sword, Durandal.

"Good job!" Yuuto complimented the girl as he went to her. "One stray devil down."

"It was you who did the most important part by cutting the opponent`s legs, leaving her immobilized." The former exorcist returned the compliment.

"I wonder how the others are doing." Kiba noted, showing interest to the other group progress.

"Speaking of which, there is certain someone`s progress I am interested in tonight." Xenovia said and putted a hand on her chin.

"And who could that be?" The other knight questioned with a curious face.

"I am talking about Tatsumi." The girl said, catching her male friend slightly off guard.

"Tatsumi-kun? What about him?" The blonde-haired boy asked.

"Well, according to what he said yesterday at the club house, he died back in his world, before being sent into this one." She stopped for a while and seeing how interested his friends were continued. "I wonder what he did there in order to die at such a young age."

"Now that you put it that way, it is quite a mystery indeed." Yuuto agreed.

"Is it not strange? I think that boy is keeping important to himself that we will find very soon." The blue-haired girl finished when suddenly a cold chill ran through the devils spines, making them to freeze at one place. "What was that?"

"This feeling, there is no mistaking it. There is an exorcist in this factory." Kiba explained.

"Did you an exorcist? Are you sure?" Xenovia questioned in surprise.

"At any case, we can think about it later. For now let`s just regroup with others." Kiba said as the two started walking a bit faster. "Gasper-kun, don`t fell behind."

"Okay." Was the bishop`s short reply.

At the same time at the second floor of the factory`s east part, Akeno and her seniors were looking really hard for the stray devils, but didn`t have much luck while doing so. As things looked, it seemed that they won`t find any opponents soon, but even so none of the three appeared to be disappointed or upset by the fact.

Currently, the group was in the factory`s great hall, where according to the gathered information was once used for a dining room. It was a big premise with the size of a basketball stadium, being filled with tons of boxes, tables and chairs, which were ranged in the form of a square as the shape of the room itself. Everything appeared to be normal, except for the fact that the lights were slightly weaker than the other rooms they have been so far.

"What a big place?" Asia stated what was on her mind, while looking around when her eyes stopped at a door in one of the room`s corners. "There is a room here." She said and headed towards it.

"Asia-san, don`t open it alone. Wait for some…" Himejima tried to warn her junior, but was already too late.

The blonde-haired girl grabbed the door`s handle and spinning it, slowly opened the door. It was then when a dangerous feeling went down Tatsumi`s spine as the boy waste a second more and rushed towards his friend. Somehow managing to get in time before the doors opened completely, the boy pushed Asia a little harder, just before a middle size spider jumped from darkness of the next room and headed straight at the standing in front of him devil.

Fortunately, the former assassin was quicker and simply jumped over it, made an loop in the air and while falling down, swung his left leg at the opponent`s face. The hit pushed the stray devil back two meters, passing right through the door from which it came out. However, a second one with the same size jumped over it and attacked the brown-haired boy at a high speed, leaving him no chance, but to dodge by rolling to the right.

Not even a moment later, the previous one attacked again by shooting spider web, which threatened to hit him in the face in fairly normal speed. Suddenly, Akeno jumped before him and by pointing her hands forward, created a magical circle, blocking the enemy`s attack in the process. Ignored, the other stray devil tried to bite the black-haired girl from next to her left, but to no success as the pawn grabbed his senior from behind and jumped to the right, saving her right at last possible moment. Landing on the ground, Tatsumi let the girl on her legs and turned back just to see one opponents headng straight at them with a distance a little too much for comfort.

"Akeno-san! Tatsumi-san!" Asia screamed in panic.

'Damn, if I just had Incursio with me, it would be much easier.' The boy thought to himself. 'I know you are here somewhere, because we went through so much together, Incursio. So please respond to me. Respond to my desire to protect my new friends.' Saying that, a red magic circle appeared in front of the boy and a red light began glowing strongly.

Just like that, the green-eyed male felt the feeling of the sword appearing in his right hand and reacted at once, slicing the stray devil in two parts in a single strile as the parts passed right by them as it was rehearsed. Sadly for them, the second enemy dashed at them as well slightly faster than the previous attacks. However, the former member of Night Raid didn`t flinch at all and just grabbed the sword like a spear and threw it directly at the attacker`s head, stopping his assault in the progress as well as the battle.

The two girls stood and watched in amazement the result of what the new member of the family did in front of their eyes for less than a minute. Even Akeno couldn`t believe it at first, considering the fact that she is top class sadist.

"That was incredible, Tatsumi-san!" Argento said and ran towards her friends.

"Honestly, you caught me surprised. You did all that by yourself." Akeno stated.

"It`s not that much of deal." The boy relied while picking up his sword from the dead body of the stray devil. "I am used to doing things like that."

"Used? What do you mean by that?" The black-haired girl questioned. 'Could this sword be his Sacred Gear?' She commented in her mind.

"It`s a long story, which isn`t for this time and place." The pawn answered, dodging the explanation for later.

"I agree. What matters is that we are alright." Asia supported her male friend and gave a wide and innocent smile.

Suddenly, all three of them felt and chill going down their spines, giving an even more dangerous feeling than that of the stray devils, which was immediately recognized by the queen.

"What was that feeling? It`s like I have felt it before." The blonde girl noted.

"That`s the warning for a approaching exorcist." The leader of the group replied

"Bingo!" As if hearing her words a voice ran through the entire room and left an echo, after which a dark figure with a hood came out from the door to the north part of the hall. "Well, if it isn`t Gremory`s shitty devils, who have came here to kill the stray devils, just as thought." The figure stated and took out his hood, revealing himself to the group.

"You are that rouge priest that helped Kokabiel." Himejima stated calmly, recognizing the man in front of the group.

"That`s right! The one and only, Freed Sellzen is standing before you and ready to slice some shitty devils into pieces." The boy said and started looking around.

"W-Why are you here?" The blonde girl asked as signs of fear was obviously surfacing in her.

"If it`s not Asia-chan over there?" How are you…?" Freed attempted to ask a question, but stopped middle way as his eyes spotted the former assassin. "And I though you look familiar. You are the guy from the other day that I almost killed. So that missy reincarnated you as a devil. How touching?" He stated and broke out in a laugher.

"I am sorry to break your fun, but we are in a hurry, so would you mind getting out of our way." The black-haired woman said and sparks of lightning began to circle around her hands.

"Ops, I won`t move if I were you." The white-haired boy replied and took something from his pocket and showed it to them. "Do you know what this is?"

"It`s a detonator." Tatsumi immediately shot the answer.

"That`s correct. There are bombs through the entire factory, placed personally by me and made especially for you, shitty devils." The priest explained. "I just need to press this button and everything will go boom. Of course I will be dashing the hell out of here by that time."

"What should we do?" Asia cried out.

"You three will be able to save your skin, but your friends will be blown sky high." Sellzen began to laugh again and placed one of his fingers on top of the button and tried to press it.

However, the brown-haired boy had something else in mind, which was shown when he picked a stone with the size of a small electric bulb with his left hand and threw it straight at the opponent, hitting his hand that held the detonator in it. Reacting to the pain, the rouge exorcist dropped the device on the ground as it started to roll on it, heading directly at Gremory`s bishop.

"Asia! Take it and go find the others and tell them about the danger at hand." The former member of Night Raid shouted.

Argento did as told and ran at the door from which they came. Seeing the devil getting way, the priest took out a gun from his belt and pointed it at the disappearing figure of the girl, trying to aim at her. Unfortunately for him, this action of his left him wide open and that was instantly noticed by Tatsumi, who in the blink of an eye was close enough and without any hesitation, gave the priest an uppercut, which sent him crashing on the floor.

"Akeno-san! Please go with her and leave this guy to me." The pawn said and turned towards his senior.

"Huh?" The queen questioned in surprise.

"There might be some stray devils still hiding around, right? Asia will need someone to protect her on the way." The boy explained.

Himejima stood there for a moment, gathering her thoughts, when she suddenly smiled at the new member of the family and after that turned around and ran after the blonde girl, leaving the green-eyed teen to fight with the exorcist.

Meanwhile, on the middle of the second floor the other two groups had already gathered about five minute ago and began to search for the remaining stray devils and their friends as well. They decided to go back downstairs, thinking that there must be no more on this floor with the hope to have a better luck on the first. Everyone seemed a bit more relaxed than before and didn`t try to hide it, which was shown by how freely they were talking between each other. The female part walked in front and talked about random topics, while the three boys didn`t exchange much words, but weren`t completely silent either.

"Man, I am really tired and sleepy now." Issei stated as he let a loud yawn that echoed in the air.

"I am sure we will finish this very soon, so please bear with it until then." Rias spoke up and turned back to her servant.

"But still, it has been more than fifteen minutes since we saw a strayed devil. This game of hide and seek is starting to affect on my patience as well." Xenovia complained without holding back.

"Don`t be like that. We must be more positive." Kiba replied

"Yuuto is right. We must think of more positive things instead of complaining." The crimson-haired girl supported her knight.

"Yeah, yeah… I got it." Hyoudou agreed and yawned again.

"Issei-senpai, please stop yawning like that. It annoys me." Koneko scolded her senior.

"I am sorry." The boy apologized.

Just like that, the sound of someone running reached everyone`s ears, to which they responded by turning towards the direction of the source. The two knights instantly jumped in front of the group and took out their swords, supported by Rias, Koneko and Issei, leaving Gasper at the back of the group. Guards up, they all prepared to face another foe with all they got, but got surprised when the one that appeared from the dark was simply their fellow bishop. Seeing them, she put up a relieved expression on her face and stopped paying attention to what was she doing as she lost her balance and fell with a face on the ground, dropping the detonator in the progress.

"Are you okay, Asia?" Issei questioned as he went next to her.

"I am alright." The girl answered as she got up in a sitting position. "More importantly, I need to tell you something."

"Calm down Asia." Rias tried to calm her junior kneeling next to her as well.

"There is no time…" Argento replied, but was cut off by another voice.

"Asia-chan!" Looking behind the bishop, everyone saw the household`s queen approaching them by flying with her wings.

"What is going on Akeno-san?" Yuuto questioned his friend as soon as she landed on the floor.

"Freed Sellzen is in this factory." The black-haired girl answered, which shocked the rest.

"Freed?" Hyoudou shouted as anger began to overcome his senses, build up by all the memories of that person, none of which good. Whenever, he showed up, the stray exorcist always hurt someone precious to the brown-haired boy. First it was namely Asia, back in the time when she was working for the fallen angels after being exiled from the church. Next, he helped Kokabiel, one of the leaders of the fallen angels to steal the Holy Swords, Excalibur when he fought Kiba few times. All that made him an unforgivable person in not only Hyoudou`s life, but in that of everyone else from the household.

"Yes. He planned to kill us all with explosive that are placed through the entire facility, but thanks to Tatsumi-kun we managed to take the detonator from him." She explained and pointed to the lying on the ground object.

"Where`s Tatsumi?" Rias questioned, seeing the absence of the said boy.

"He is dealing with that exorcist at the factory`s hall." Himejima replied.

"Ise, Koneko! Take Gasper and Asia and get out of this place." The pure blooded devil ordered to her underlings and got up. "Akeno, Yuuto, Xenovia and I are going to back him up."

"Okay!" The rest said at once and just like that they separated into two groups.

In that time, in the hall Tatsumi and Freed were having a equal fight with neither of them being able to take the upper hand over the other one, but even so it was clear that the exorcist`s patience was starting to run out faster and faster. Sellzen was shooting and swinging his sword like insane, literally attacking at random. The brown-haired boy on the other hand, simply kept a safe distance and waited for opening to strike, while trying to analyze the enemy`s movements.

Currently, the exorcist was attempting to corner his target at one of the room`s corners by breaking everything around him. Thinking that he had succeeded, Sellzen attacked with his sword, swinging at the former assassin`s chest area, but the latter simply and easily escaped by jumping on a nearby table, which he than used to push himself towards the ceiling and more specifically at one of the lamps, that hanged right above the white-haired man. Stepping on it, the devil used his sword to cut the cable that supported in the air and jumped aside, just before it began to fall straight at the ground. Seeing the threat, Freed was forced to jump to his left, thus avoiding the impact of the lamp and the ground, which let out a loud sound when the electric bulb exploded, shattering into pieces in many directions.

"Curse you for that, you shitty devil!" The exorcist shouted as he landed heavily on the ground with his back.

The rouge priest got up in a kneeling position and began to look for his opponent, just to spot him approaching from the air. Putting up a smirk on his face, Freed confidently shot few times at the boy with the thought that he already won the battle. However, what he saw was not what he wanted as Tatsumi swung couple of times with Incursio`s sword and deflected every single bullet that was aimed at him.

"Don`t fuck with me, you shitty devil! It`s Freed Sellzen you are dealing with here." Sellzen yelled and got up on his legs and decided to surprise his opponent by closing the distance between them and swung his sword at the boy`s head in advance.

But again to no avail as it appeared like the former assassin thought that much and simply hammered his sword into the ground and used it as a support to push right above the enemy. Landing behind Freed, Tatsumi didn`t waste a second and immediately turned at the exorcist, who did exactly the same. Unfortunately for Freed, it appeared he was the slower one, which was shown when Gremory`s pawn aimed couple of quick punches in both his head and stomach, making him spill some blood.

Desperately, the white-haired boy tried to counterattack by giving the devil a head impact, but to no avail as the devil spun to his right side, ending back to back and gave him a hit with his left elbow, knocking the opponent on the floor. The priest instantly flipped and started shooting at the other boy, who made three topples backwards, avoiding all of the attacks and even managing to pick up his sword in the progress.

"You are making me to want to slice your head and keep it as a souvenir. After that the same thing will happen to your friends." Sellzen said as he got up on his legs and wiped the blood from his mouth. And just like that he dashed at the new member of the devil`s family.

Closing on the distance, Freed swung his sword with all the power he had left, attempting to cut the devil`s head as if he betted everything on this one attack. However, the former assassin was faster and ducked under the attack`s directory and then out of the blue sliced the exorcist hands, which held the weapons, thus making him defenseless. Scream out of pain escaped Sellzen lips, which echoed through the entire room and just like that blood started pouring from the wounds all the way to the ground.

"I am sorry to disappoint you, but I don`t plan on neither dying yet nor losing any important friends of mine in this life. For that purpose I will stain my hands as much as I need to." The pawn said calmly.

"What the…?" Freed tried to shout in reply, but didn`t even manage to finish his sentence as Tatsumi simply stabbed him in the heart, ending the opponents suffering and battle as well. After taking his sword out, the dead body just fell on the ground.

The brown-haired boy got up on his legs and remained unmoving for the next two minutes, before turning towards to door from which he came just to see Xenovia and Yuuto standing at the entrance and literally staring from amazement. A second later, the door opened again, revealing Akeno and Rias, who upon entering the premise stopped their tracks to search for any signs of Freed Sellzen.

"Where is that exorcist?" Rias questioned, turning towards her male knight, but he didn`t answered and simply pointed with a hand the dead body next to the former assassin.

"Oh my, oh my, it seems we worried for no reason." The queen stated and giggled.

"Hey!" The new member of the family greeted them as he went to his friends.

"You are incredible, Tatsumi-kun!" Akeno complimented her junior.

"Can`t argue with that." Kiba stated. "I got shivers when I saw how you killed this guy."

"Honestly, I think you own all of us an explanation, but that will wait until tomorrow." The crimson-haired woman said. "We are all tired, so let`s go back home. It`s Saturday tomorrow, so there no school and we can met up in the club house earlier." She finished and led the rest outside where they regrouped with Issei and the others, after which they went home.

**And so another chapter from "Second Life" is done. This one was quite longer than the previous one as I tried to show everything in more detailed way and focused on the other characters instead of just Tatsumi. Even so the point of this chapter was to shown he`s way of doing things by eliminating the enemies, thus revealing a portion of his talent to kill. **

**The next thing that I did here and which you must noticed is that brought Tatsumi`s Imperial Arms, Incursio to the world of DxD, making it now his Sacred Gear. Some asked me if I was going to do that, saying that the character won`t be the same without that weapon, which is something I personally agree at. However, I might make him transform into the demon armor not so soon with the idea of using it as his Balance Breaker, just like Issei`s and Vali`s one, which I think will make more sense. **

**Another thing, I will start developing Tatsumi`s reletionships with the possible pairing choice, which so far are Akeno and Xenovia. Also there will be a third option for the boy`s half, but not going to said who is it, just that she will be someone outside the Gremory household.**

**With this said, I will be taking my leave. I hope you liked the chapter. Feel free to give your feedbacks if you have any. Critiques are welcomed as always, but please be mindful not to post hateful comments. Thank you for sparing your time to read my story! : ) **


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4 – To finally start anew**_

The next day the whole family gathered early at 10:00 at the club house, taking advantage of the fact that it was Saturday and there was no school today. Everyone was still a bit sleepy from yesterday, mostly the group that lives Hyoudou`s house, because Issei decided to take a shower at the new rebuild, bigger bathroom. Unfortunately for the boy, it turned out it that Koneko was already in it, taking a bath as she gave him a good beat up, enough to wake everyone up and keep them like that until midnight. At the morning, the pawn was forced to apologize to Tojou for what he did and to the rest for waking them at such late hour.

At the moment, the group had gathered in the hall, except for Akeno and Asia, who were making tea before they begin talking. Rias was taking a shower in the bathroom in order to refresh herself, Yuuto, Koneko, Xenovia, Issei and Tatsumi were sitting on the couches, while Gasper sat comfortable in a box. Silence was ruling over for about two minutes, just before the bathroom`s door opened and from it came out Rias, wearing just dressing-gown while mopping her wet hair.

"That felt refreshing." The crimson-haired girl stated with a smile on her face. "I finally awake."

"Sorry for the wait." A voice rang out as the door the kitchen slowly opened, revealing the queen and the female bishop each carrying a silver plate with cops of tea on it.

In less than a minute everyone sat in the room, drinking tea and waiting for the President to give to the topic to talk about, which was already known by some of them, but still remained like they didn`t knew and said nothing in advance.

"Now, let today`s discussing begin." Rias said calmly and put her hands on the table. "What should we talk about?" She added, surprising some of the members.

"What do you suggest?" Kiba asked with curiosity

"Actually, there`s something I am interested in." Xenovia said and turned towards the former assassin.

"W-What is it?" Tatsumi replied in surprise, feeling the weight of the blue-haired girl`s eyes.

"At the factory yesterday, you were…." She began to explain, but stopped due to the lost of words.

"….different." The brown-haired boy added as if he read her mind, shocking everyone at present.

"Speaking of which, when you were fighting Freed I heard you saying that you neither don`t plan on dying nor losing any important friends of yours in this life. What did you mean by that?" Yuuto questioned, putting his coup of tea on the table.

Silence moved in the room as the new devil bowed his head and clenched both of his hands into fists, making everyone else to start staring at him in wonder.

"I understand it may be personal and hard for you to talk about, but I think it help us work together much better." The female knight said.

"No, I understand. It is your right to know, since we are going to work together." Tatsumi replied back. "It is a long story, but I will try to shorten as much as possible."

"Don`t worry over it, just let it out." Rias said to her new servant and just like that she and the rest prepared to listen.

"Back in my world, in the country in which I lived in was ruled by emperors ever since it was founded. However, in my days, the emperor was a kid, younger than me, because his parents died due to unknown reasons." The boy said and stopped to take a breath, made a quick at the group and continued. "And so in order to become a good emperor, his most trusted people appointed a man with the position of 'minister' to guide the boy in his decisions.

"That man must be a really good person." Asia interrupted.

"No, he was nothing like that." The former assassin immediately returned. "That man took advantage of the emperor`s young age and used his power to steal from the empire`s people, publishing laws that forced them to pay high taxes almost every single day. Those who disobeyed his will were charged with even higher taxes or even were sentenced to death."

"What?" Issei shouted and got up from his seat. "That`s so unfair."

"Calm down, Ise." His master calmed him down and nodded to Tatsumi to continue.

"His tyranny continued when he began giving rich people the power and freedom to do whatever they want with the pour part of the empire`s population. People were forced to work for no money, satisfying the rich one`s desires, forcing even kids to work. Slowly the empire became corrupted to the point of no return." The brown-haired boy explained and took a short break.

"That sounds terrible indeed." Yuuto stated.

"I agree." Akeno supporter her friend`s words.

"Thus, in time the ordinary people began to rebel against those action of the empire, by committing insignificant actions until a larger group of men, women and even kids formed a organization, called 'The Revolutionary Army', which tried to take the empire by force, starting huge scale wars." The new member of the family said and again clenched his hands into fists as if hinted to the rest to pay more attention. "Among that army there was even more deed group of assassins, which was formed of skilled people, called 'Night Raid'. It had the mission to change that corruption by killing those responsible for it. I myself was part of that group." With him saying that, the rest gave out a shocked expression on their faces.

"You were… an assassin?" Hyoudou literally screamed out and almost fell from his seat when the other boy nodded with a head.

"Honestly, I didn`t expect that." Xenovia said with a hint of regret to her voice.

"Me neither." Koneko added.

"So what happened to you and this group?" Gasper questioned from inside the box.

"Well, the empire didn`t let things go as the rebels wanted and sent the strongest soldiers to fight us head on. At first it was easy dealing with them, but later on more and more powerful came, until they even hired the titled 'Empire`s strongest' soldier to crush the rebellion. Many of us lost their lives along the way, people I loved and admired from the bottom of my heart. Some even died right before my eyes, while trying their best to the very end, keeping smiles on their face and encouraged me to move forward. Until it came the final day of the war as the empire was heavily weakened and ready to fall apart. On that day, I lost my life, leaving only three members of Night Raid to fight after me." Tatsumi explained and wiped his eyes, which gave out that he couldn`t hold it in.

Silence moved in and no one dared to break it, just looking the brown-haired devil as he had his head bowed, thus hiding his face. Only Akeno, who was sitting next to his right managed to clearly see his tears and just couldn`t help, but to try to understand the pain in the boy`s heart. It was like something was trying to overcome her senses, but her mind didn`t let it take control, so she decided to do something else.

"Well, you live a new life now and I can ensure that you won`t have to go through the same experience in this world." The queen said and made such an innocent, childish, yet serious smile that Tatsumi had not seen in a very long time.

"Akeno is right." Rias supported her friend with a smile. "We will be your family where you can return to."

"That`s right. And besides, why don`t we look at it from the good side." Issei added.

"…And what would that be, Issei-senpai?" Koneko questioned her senior.

"We have another amazing member in our household, just like everyone else." Hyoudou replied back.

"I think so too. And to think you would be sword user. That marks the third here, beside me and Xenovia-san." Yuuto said. "Now I want to have a friendly spar with you."

"Tatsumi, I am sorry for bringing you up such painful memories. I hope we can be good friends from now on." Xenovia apologized to the boy by slightly bowing her head.

"I think so too that. Senpai is already an important member of our family." Koneko said and slowly smiled at the former assassin, who saw her smile for the first time since he met her.

"Thank you everyone!" The new devil thanked and smiled back.

"That`s the spirit. From now on you will become my brother." Issei said as went and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, that reminds me." The family`s king said, catching the attention of the rest present in the room. "Akeno, you can give the cloths to Tatsumi now."

"Yes President." The queen replied, got up from her seat and went to one wardrobe and took something from it, after which she returned and gave it the former assassin.

"Are those cloths for the…?" Issei questioned his senior after looking at what she gave to Tatsumi.

"That`s right. That`s Kuoh Academy boys' school uniform." Rias answered and giggled.

"So does that mean?" Kiba asked next what was obviously understandable.

"Yes, starting this upcoming Monday, Tatsumi will attend Kuoh Academy." The crimson-haired woman explained proudly, which shocked the two brown-haired boys.

"I am doing what and where?" The pawn questioned in astonishment.

"Well, the President though it would be a great new start for you, since you don`t have anything special to do either way." Himejima explained her master`s intentions.

"Don`t worry, I talked to my father, who has political power in the academy and arranged you to be in the same class as Issei, Asia and Xenovia." Rias stated calmly.

"He will be in the same class as us?" Asia questioned in surprise.

"Yes, which brings to one more thing." Rias answered and stopped to see if they were paying attention, mostly the former member of Night Raid. "Since he will be attending a school, he will need a second name, right?!"

"That makes sense." Xenovia agreed. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"Actually, that is already done. I took the liberty of picking one myself, after consulting with those, who were needed to." The pure-blooded devil replied and nodded to Akeno, who went to the desk and took a list of paper and passed to the Tatsumi

The boy took it in his hands and closed to his face. It was some kind or document with text written on it on some language. He tried to read it, but to no avail and decided to ask his fellow pawn for assistance. Hyoudou took the paper and started to read it.

"According to this document, Hyoudou Tatsumi is allowed to attend Kuoh Academy starting…" The devil almost reached to the end of the first sentence, when the thought of missing the most important part came to his mind and went back and stopped at the name and stared from amusement. "Hyoudou Tatsumi?" He screamed.

"The same second name as Issei-san?" Asia questioned and went next to her friend to read it as well.

"What does that mean, President?" Xenovia asked.

"It means that this boy will become not only a member of our family, but a member of Ise`s own one as well and he will be his stepbrother." Rias explained.

"W-What…?" Both Tatsumi and Issei shouted at the same time.

"I already talked to your parents and told them that Tatsumi has lost his parents due to some reasons, which is halfway true, since he is a new world now. So I asked if they can become his adopted ones." The daughter of the Gremory clan explained, further shocking the two boys.

"Now that is some turn of events." Kiba stated as he went next to the group of reading.

"Honestly, such a bold action it is indeed something our President would do." Akeno added.

"Guess, I don`t have a choice." The former assassin said and seeing the pure-blooded devil`s smile and let out a sign. "It looks like I will become a student, even thought it will be my first time doing such a thing." He finished.

"That`s the spirit I want." Rias replied back with a devious smile on her face. "With that said, club activities are dismissed for today. You are free to do anything you want for the rest of the day." She added.

The rest of the day went smoothly for everyone and nobody realized when the time passed so fast. Rias invited the girls on a coffee, somewhere in the center of the city, while the boys sneaked in the school`s gym and had a two-hour training. An so the evening came, Yuuto and Gasper went their ways as the rest headed back to Hyoudou`s house. Entering the first thing that Tatsumi did was to thank Issei`s parents for accepting as a part of their family and that he will try his best not to make any troubles for them. After dinner, the devils in the house gathered in Issei`s room to talk about stuff and play games like cards. It was then when the former assassin truly realized the difference in the life he was having here and the one he had in his world. At around they bid good night each other and went over their rooms.

Tatsumi fell asleep as soon as he reached his bed with a smile on his face as it was the first night in which he could truly relax, without having to worry about something like when he was part of Night Raid. There he lived with the thought that each night could be his last and somehow feared to wake up, but here things were totally different and he felt it.

Around 4 o`clock in the morning, the boy suddenly woke up from a strange dream and tried go to sleep again, but failed. He got up and went on the balcony on his room. Getting out side, Tatsumi leaned his hands on the parapet and began to star at the night sky. It was a clear sky, so the stars and the moon were visible, which made the atmosphere even more relaxing and breath taking. Silence was ruling over the streets and time just seemed to have stopped for the boy.

"Oh my, you could not fall sleep as well, Tatsumi-kun?" A voice broke the silence.

The new devil turned towards the source, just to find Akeno standing on a meter next to his right, wearing only a night-gown, which slightly revealed her cleavage. Also, her hair was let failing completely without any ribbons holding it as she usually ties it.

"Akeno-san, did I wake up? If that`s the case, I am truly sorry." The pawn replied back, being surprised by her appearance and trying not to stare at her cleavage.

"Not all. I just woke up to go the bathroom and now I can`t seem to fall asleep again and started wondering what to do, when I saw you standing here all by yourself." The black-haired girl explained and went next to him and leaned on the parapet the same way as him.

"I see." Tatsumi said and continued to look in the sky.

"Is something the matter?" The queen questioned, looking at his face.

"Not really. It`s just that now when I am finally able to live normally, I thought what it would be if my friends from the previous world were here as well." The brown-haired boy answered her question.

"Is that so?" Well, I am sure that they are now watching from more peaceful place and are being glad that you were gifted this second chance to live." The girl said with a voice that he heard her using for the first time.

It was gently and a kind voice, backed with a lot of happiness in it and somehow it grabbed him immediately so far that the former assassin didn`t realize when he started literally staring at her.

"Tatsumi-kun?" The same voice brought him back to reality.

"I am sorry, I just…" He tried to turn to the right, but slipped and fell on the balcony`s floor, dragging Akeno under him.

His face found itself right above hers and it was like he couldn`t move it even if he wanted. Her violet eyes were reflecting the moonlight, which made them even more beautiful, her hair lied back on ground and her lips were completing the temptation. Lust started to take the better of him as he felt his head leaning towards hers, closing the distance between their lips and it was obvious that she was going along with him. And so it happened, their lips locked with each other, which turned into a long and passionate kiss. Time seemed to have stopped for the two and everything around them until they had to break to get air. The girl got up in a sitting position and bowed her head down.

"I am sorry. I don`t know what happened to me all of a sudden." He apologized and bowed his head as well.

"No, it`s nothing." She replied back.

"I am truly sorry. It`s just that you are very beautiful and my instincts got the better of me." Tatsumi said, catching the queen of guard, making her slightly to blush.

Silence moved in for the next two minutes as neither of them dared to say anything to the other one. The boy was feeling guilty for what he did and thought about it as his lack of experience in the common daily life and it was understandable. Until just recently, all he thought about was becoming stronger as much as possible, to be able to change the corruption in the empire and to protect the weak. The things that the normal people experienced were slowly becoming something unsuitable for him. And now it was totally the other way around as he found himself in a world where everyone or at least most lived happy lives, which was something new to him.

The girl on the hand was completely left surprised, but it was a good surprise and it was a fact that she liked it. She was called very beautiful by someone she knew for three days, who joined the Gremory household in the blink of an eye. And now that boy was complimenting Akeno about her appearance and even kissed her on the lips, something she wasn`t able to do with Issei for such a long time.

"Once again, I am really sorry." The former assassin said, breaking up the silence.

"You don`t have to worry about it. Besides, I must say it was a good experience in my life." Akeno reassured the boy and got up and headed towards the balcony`s door. "Good Night."

"Wait. Can you ask you something?" Tatsumi said in a bit louder voice.

"What is it?" The black-haired devil replied.

"If it`s not a problem, can I call you Akeno from now on? I talk better to people without adding things like 'san' after their names, but I will understand if you don`t want." The pawn explained, scratching the back of his head.

The following question caught her off guard again. It was a fact that nobody except for Rias called her Akeno, even all these years of friendship with them. She once asked Issei to call her like that whenever they are alone, but Hyoudou just couldn`t do it, which kinda let the queen down. Now this boy wanted permission to call her by her fist name alone, without adding a 'san' like Issei, Yuuto, Asia and Xenovia or with 'senpai' like Koneko and Gasper, but this case now seemed somewhat different from the others and it made her happy.

"Sure. I don`t mind." She finally answered and smiled at the boy. "Then, please allow me to call, just Tatsumi."

"Okay." The new devil gave a short reply.

"Good Night then, Tatsumi!" Akeno said and slowly headed towards the door.

"Good Night." The boy returned back as the girl left the balcony and went back to her room.

Soon after that, Tatsumi did the same. And like a wonder, he was able to fall asleep from the first time with a smile on his face, thinking who knows what, but it was certain that it was something good that was enough for him to smile like that. It appeared that his previous life started to become even more distant than it was just a day ago, giving him the chance to finally start anew.

**PLEASE READ!**

**And so it ends chapter 4 **_**"To finally start anew"**_**. As you read above, I tried to completely give Tatsumi a new start in the world of DxD by deciding to make him go to school and do other things that are common for the daily life in it. I also gave him a second name 'Hyoudou', the same as Issei, because I thought it would fit considering the fact that both of the boys are pretty similar at appearance. Besides, I want to develop a brother-like relationship between them, so I used this opportunity as a great chance to mark the start. **

**However, the most important thing, which probably interests you is the TatsumixAkeno scene at the end. Yeah, it finally began. From this chapter forward, Tatsumi will be further developing his relationship with Akeno, but that doesn`t mean that`s the final couple. I still have two more characters in mind that I may put him together with, so please be patient.**

**Another thing, many of you readers have asked me what evil piece is Tatsumi in Rias`s peerage. So I am going to say loud and clear, he is pawn in this fic. The reasons are two: first, that I used the fact that Issei later on become 4 mutation pieces, so I made it look like that gives Rias four pawn pieces back, which she used to revive Tatsumi. The second reason is because I don`t see Tatsumi like a rook and considering the second knight was taken earlier by Xenovia, so here you go – Tatsumi is a pawn like Issei.**

**I hope you liked my chapter and as always feedbacks are deeply appreciated. I am open for constructive critiques as well, such as those regarded towards my grammar and etc, but please no hate at all. **

**That`s all I wanted to say for now. Thanks for finding your time to read my work. See you! : ) **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 – The daily life of a student**

The Sunday passed in no time for the whole household as the girls had something to do and left early at the morning after having breakfast. The male part of the family spent the day at separated as Kida wanted to just rest and read book and stayed with Gasper at the mansion in which they lived. Issei helped Tatsumi to get a mobile phone as ordered by Rias, after which they went back home and talked about various stuff. The evening also passed unnoticeably as dinner took most of the time, when it suddenly became 10:00 p.m. and everyone went to bed as this night nothing happened at all.

The morning the group had breakfast and 7:30 a.m., which was the first time the former assassin got up so early since he came to this world, thus he needed five more minutes sleep, but sadly didn`t get them, because Issei was pressing him by knocking on door. After half an hour they were at school and the first class was about to begin.

Iseei, Xenovia and Asia were already in the class room and waited for the teacher to come, while Tatsumi had to wait for the same person, but to be introduced to the rest of the students. Just like that the bell rang loudly and a man around 40 years old with a short black hair, wearing glasses entered the room and went to desk, after which he turned towards the students.

"Listen up everyone." The man said, earning himself attention. "I know it`s a bit of a sudden, but starting today we are going to have a new student join our class." He added and nodded to Tatsumi, who was standing at the other side of the door.

The new devil entered the classroom and headed towards the next to the teacher as Rias told him too and turned left, facing the rest.

"Would be kind to introduce yourself?" The black-haired man urged him.

"My name is Hyoudou Tatsumi. I hope we can get along starting today." The brown-haired boy said as the whole room were left surprised, except for the other three members of the household.

"Isn`t Hyoudou, Issei`s second name?"A boy with a black hair and glasses shouted.

"What is going on here?" Another boy with almost no hair questioned next.

"Be quiet everyone!" The teacher called out, calming his students. "Such questions can wait until the break. Now let`s find you a place." He added and turned directly to the pawn. "There is only free spot, so you will have to satisfy yourself with it and pointed the seat behind the other Hyoudou.

Tatsumi went to the place behind his fellow devil, took a seat and moved his eyes on the teacher, while listening to random people talking in whispers about his name and origin. The rest of the class went slowly and hard to bear for the boy as he felt the unstoppable stare of the students, who continued to whisper the entire time by whispering between each other.

When the break came, Tatsumi saw two boys went to Issei and punched him in the face out of nowhere, after which they began talking in a louder voice. The former member of Night Raid got up from his seat and headed towards the group, overhearing their conversation on the way.

"What does that mean, Issei?" One of them asked.

"Yeah, you better explain yourself." The other one added, obviously showing his anger.

"Well, you…" Hyoudou tried to explain, but was cut off.

"What`s the matter guys?" The new devil questioned, reaching the group.

"We were just asking that idiot what is happening here and why are you sharing the same second name?!" The boy with glasses answered.

"That`s because we share the same father." Ise replied back.

"What do you mean?" The other boy questioned.

"We have one father, but different mothers." Tatsumi answered.

"Do you mean he had a wife before marrying Issei`s mother?" The boy with the glasses asked.

"That`s right. I am the kid from that first marriage and I didn`t know I had a brother, until recently when my mother passed away from a disease. Then I found about my father and so I live with them." The former assassin said just as the President told him to.

"That`s how it is." Issei added. "I too was unaware of his existence until a week ago."

"So that`s the deal here." The boy with little hair stated. "Well, I am Matsuda. It`s nice to meet you."

"My name is Motohama." The black-haired one introduced himself. "Also, Tatsumi, do you want to become a member of our group?"

"What group?" The new devil questioned, having no idea of the latter.

"It`s called the 'Perverted Trio'. Matsuda explained. "But if you are going to join, I guess we will need to rename it."

'Perverted Trio?' The brown-haired boy thought to himself, after which he took a look over his brother-in-law. "I will think about it." He answered.

"By the way, if you live in Issei`s house, then you must know Asia-chan and the others from the 'Occult Research Club', right?" Motohama asked and leaned towards him.

"Yeah, I know them. Issei suggested the club to me, so I decided to join." Tatsumi answered, backing few steps in order to get away from the boy`s face.

"What? You are in it as well?" Matsuda shouted. "How come Issei didn`t suggested it to us as well?"

"That`s because you are idiots." Ise replied back, sitting on his seat.

"You bastard!" The two boys said and tried to hit the boy, but the sound of the bell stopped them.

And so the next class began. This time it was history lesson, which Tatsumi found quite interesting after hearing the material. His interest was so deep, that he was even able to ignore the non stoppable comments from the other students. That was so, because the boy liked to listen about past events even back at his world. At a young age, he met a former soldier of the army, who tough him how to use a sword, how to forge weapons and often told him stories of the empire.

By the end of the class, everyone else learned that he and Issei are from different mothers as Matsuda and Motohama spread the rumors like it was a walk in the park for them. However, he continued to ignore them by remaining calm and didn`t allow to be upset by such stupid things. Even now, the boy remembered what Bulat told him, not to allow his emotions let the better of him so easy. Issei on the hand wasn`t able to hold it anymore and scolded his friends to stop telling anyone they see in front of them.

Next was sports class, where the teacher made the boys to run 100 meters and the girls – 50 meters. Tatsumi can first for the surprise of both the entire class, while Issei finished fourth and immediately fell in a sitting position on the ground in order to rest. Xenovia was first among the girls, which surprisingly enough seemed pretty normal for the others students, who didn`t comment it like it was the case with him.

"Good job everyone!" The teacher said, gathering the class in front of him. "Most of you did well, but others performed better." He added and turned towards the two first places. "You are free to head towards the showers."

The following three lessons were quite boring for the new student. Two hours math and one politics formed as a unbearable combination for the boy, who tried to hid it by pretending to be interested in them. For his surprise nothing unusually happened for that time as the comments regarding him suddenly stopped and he felt a relaxing feeling finding going through his entire body.

After those boring three hours it finally came time for the big break of 40 minutes, which was given so that the students can eat at peace without having to worry about being late. Originally, the idea was for the Tatsumi, Issei, Asia and Xenovia to go and eat at the school`s dining-room, but due to the two girls going to the bathroom, it turned out that the time won`t be enough to go there, eat and return. Fortunately Asia took out two boxes with homemade food and the group decided to eat at the room.

The girls took their chairs next to the Tatsumi`s seat, while Issei simply turned around and found himself against the other boy. Argento placed the boxed lunches on the desk. The boxes were only two, neither too big nor too small.

"The food looks delicious." Issei said and grabbed his sticks.

"I didn`t have enough time to prepare them this morning, but please enjoy yourselves." The blonde-haired girl shyly explained, inviting her friends.

"Thanks." Tatsumi said and prepared to eat.

"Honestly, you are being way too dedicated in making boxed lunches, but I guess it`s not a bad thing." Xenovia stated, grabbing her sticks.

"Since it`s not much, we will have to two of us per box." Asia added.

"Okay!" The three replied together.

And so they split into two groups as the first was Issei and Asia, while the other one consisted of Tatsumi and Xenovia. All of them began quietly eating the food and enjoyed the silence and the fact no one else was around. Suddenly, while eating, the new devil reached out it`s hand to grab some rice when his sticks crossed paths with the blue-haired girl`s ones, leading to a awkward situation between the two, which was immediately noticed by the other group as they stopped eating and began looking instead.

"I am sorry." The former member of Night Raid hurried to apologize first.

"I am the one sorry, because I saw you reach out your hand first, but even so decided to make a grab for the rice." The female knight answered to the apology by apologizing as well.

They remained watching each other for a minute in which no one dared to talk or do anything, until Tatsumi gathered courage.

"You can have the rest, I can last until dinner." He spoke up and placed his sticks on the desk.

"Please, I can`t handle that much alone." Xenovia replied with an insisting voice.

"I am not hungry anymore." The brown-haired boy refused.

"Please, eat!" She urged him.

"Don`t…" The new pawn tried to make an excuse again, but was cut off as the knight grabbed some rice with her sticks and tried to feed him with her own hands.

The male devil started moving left and right, avoiding the girl`s attempts, until the windows parapet blocked his way, giving Xenovia the chance she was waiting for and closed in.

"I am…" The boy tried to refuse again just to feel the girl thrusting her sticks in his mouth.

Complete silence moved in the room as Tatsumi realized his helpless position and swallowed the rice, which was noticed by the girl and she pulled out the sticks. Hyoudou moved back in front of his desk, when I voice caught both his and her attention.

"Hey you two, we are still here." Issei interrupted in.

Turning towards their friends, the two saw them with surprised faces, which mostly regarded Asia, who had her left hand in front of her mouth. After that the pawn and the knight looked at each other, when Xenovia started blushing out of nowhere. Tatsumi on the other hand let a sign.

"Fine, I will help you with it." The boy stated, while grabbing his sticks and began to eat.

The blue-haired girl decided to just watch and left hers on the desk and remained silent for the rest of the break. The remaining two lessons passed quite calmly without anything special happening, but all that made it quite boring for the transfer student. He and Xenovia exchanged looks from time to time, even during classes as both of them still seemed to have that awkward situation in their minds. After the last lesson ended, the girl said that she, Asia and Issei will head towards the club house and wait for the boy there, who had to go to the principal`s office to finish things regarding his transference.

In half an hour he was finally done with the documentation and decided to head straight at the club. Slowly he got out of the academy and after taking a look around saw the searched by him and renewed his way up to there.

Meanwhile, at the club building Rias, Akeno, Issei, Asia and Xenovia were waiting for the rest while drinking tea. Everyone seemed taken away in talking, except for the knight, who still was in condition of embarrassment and just looked out of the window, earning her special attention from the two 3rd year students.

"What`s wrong Xenovia?" The crimson-haired woman asked her servant.

"You see, President." Issei spoke instead of the knight. "Today she and…" He tried to explain, but was cut off as the blue-haired devil kicked him lightly on the back.

"Nothing`s wrong and I am perfectly fine." Xenovia replied.

"It doesn`t seem like it." Hyoudou stated, scratching his back.

"I don`t want to talk about it." The girl shouted.

"Looks like something did happen to you today." Akeno said with a hand on her chin.

"Issei, do you have something do with it?" Rias questioned the only boy currently present in the room.

"No, it has nothing to do with me." The pawn defended himself.

"It`s lively as ever here." A voice interrupted in the conversation and they heard the sound of a door closing.

The group turned towards the room`s entrance only to see a man with an average build, black hair, golden bangs and black goatee and purple eyes. He looked around like he was in his twenties.

"Azazel!" Issei said in surprise.

"You forgot the 'sensei'." The man replied back with a smile and went further the room and stopped when he was in front of the table.

"Is something the matter?" Akeno questioned, standing next to Rias.

"I am simply doing my job as advisor as I came to warn you." Azazel answered.

"Warn us? About what would that be?" The pure-blooded devil asked.

"Khaos Brigade began to move again." The fallen angel stated and looked at the brown-haired boy. "Mostly Vali`s team to be exact."

"Vali`s team?" Issei literally shouted in surprise.

"Yesterday about the same time they attacked Grigori`s headquarters. Fortunately the other fallen angels were able to fend the attack and force them to retreat." The black-haired man explained.

"What`s 'Grigori'?" The pawn questioned.

"That`s organization of fallen angels founded and lead namely by Azazel." Himejima answered the boy`s question.

"It`s exactly as she explained." The man replied.

"So what did they attack your organization headquarters?" Rias asked with a very serious voice.

"Well, that`s…" The fallen angel`s leader tried to explain, but the sound of the door opening stopped him in the progress.

Everyone turned towards the room`s entrance and silence moved in as if they were expecting someone very important to enter.

"I am here." The new devil entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"Who`s that kid?" Azazel questioned.

"That`s Tatsumi, the new member of my peerage as second pawn."The crimson-haired woman replied. "I reincarnated him as a devil last Wednesday. He is quite an interesting case." She added and smirked.

"Who`s that guy?" The former assassin questioned his friends.

"My name is Azazel and I am the leader of the fallen angels. It`s a nice to meet you." The man introduced himself and slightly laughed. "It looks like your peerage is becoming bigger and bigger by every day." He added and turned towards the household`s master.

Twenty minutes later Kiba along with Koneko and Gasper arrived at the club as they continued talking about random stuff. Tatsumi explained shortly his story to the fallen angel, how he came from another world and that he met 'The Great Red', which appeared to be of a great interest for the black-haired man. He also showed the advisor his weapon, Incursion as Azazel`s interest boosted even more as he took the sword and started looking from every possible angle. And so time passed without knowing when it suddenly became 18:00 and everyone decided to go home to rest and get ready for tomorrow`s school.

Rias let Issei, Xenovia, Asia, Gasper, Yuuto and Koneko head to the home and told Tatsumi to wait for everyone to leave to talk with her and Akeno about something. Azazel too left with the youngsters, paying special attention to the new devil when leaving. Just like that only the two 3rd years students and the pawn remained behind in the hall and seeing the fallen angel closing the door, Rias nodded to her queen and she put up a flyers with the Gremory`s circle on the desk.

"Now Tatsumi, it`s time for your first assignment." The pure-blooded devil stated, giving it to the boy along with a bag full of the same.

"What do you mean by 'first assignment'?" The new member of the family questioned.

"We explained to you before, how we from the Occult Research Club give such flyers to humans to summon us if it`s needed, right?" Akeno explained and seeing the boy nod in agreement continued. "In exchange for that, the clients sign a contract with us. It can help a devil get a better rank." The black-haired girl added.

"I see." The former assassin nodded, showing that he understands.

"This night you have only one client, so get over it fast and head home. We will be also going there shortly." The President of the club stated.

"Okay!" The boy replied, took his school bag along with the other one and headed towards the exit. "Then, I`ll be off."

"See you later." The two girls said in one voice and watched him as he close the door and disappeared.

"Oh my, I forgot to ask him how it was his first day at school." Rias noted, putting up a hand on her chin.

"I overheard by some first year students that he did very well in the sports class getting first place in the 100 meters challenge." The queen shared and went to pick up her bag.

"He`s not my servant for nothing." The crimson ruin princess replied with a proud voice.

"Tatsumi is really showing great potential so far and I am sure he will in the future." Himejima added and looked at the door.

"Speaking of which, you seem to look at him rather differently since yesterday. Did something happen?" The club leader questioned the vice-president, catching her slightly off guard. "And just now you called him only Tatsumi, without adding a 'kun' to his name like with Issei, Yuuto and Gasper. And what`s more strange I heard him to call you only by your name as well."

After the question of her master, the black-haired girl remained caught off guard as memories of the night between Saturday and Sunday came to her mind, especially the little intimate moment that happened at the end of their conversation. Just like that, Akeno stopped paying attention her surroundings until Rias raised her voice a little.

"Akeno?" Her classmate called out, managing to catch the attention of the girl.

"I am sorry, I spaced out." Himejima apologized to her friend.

"For you to space out, something did happen that involves that boy." The pure-blooded devil stated.

"Nothing happened." Akeno defended and headed at the hall`s entrance.

"You are lying." Rias said with an insisting voice.

"And what if something did actually happen?" The black-haired girl asked in a bit rude tone. "It`s not like we are talking about Issei-kun for you to act suspicious." She added, catching the heiress of the Gremory family off guard as well.

"I am sorry." Rias said and bowed her head down.

"Don`t mention it. Let`s go home." Akeno stated and so the two girls turned the lights off and left the club, heading for Hyoudou`s residence.

Meanwhile, Tatsumi reached the appointed place, which was an apartment on the second floor of a big building. The boy climbed the stairs and reaching the door of the client, took a look around and knocked on the entrance.

"I am coming!" A voice from the inside spoke up and after a minute the door slowly opened from which it came out a man with long black hair and glasses with a normal build.

"Good Evening!" The former assassin greeted. "I am from the Gremory household and I am here to listen to your request."

"Come in." The man moved aside and showed the boy the path into his apartment. "Strange, I haven`t you seen before. Could you be a newbie?"

"Yeah, my name is Hyoudou Tatsumi." The pawn introduced himself. "I just became a devil few days ago."

"Hyoudou?!" The owner questioned in surprise. "Do you happen to have any blood relationship with Hyoudou Issei?" He added.

"Yes. Well, it`s a long story." The first year student answered.

"I see. Well, get in and let`s start playing games." The man invited

And so Tatsumi entered his first assignment, which turned out a real pain for him, because he didn`t know what was a computer game and had to learn by watching from the client. Eventually the owner agreed to sign the contract and gave the boy a game, which according to him was for Issei as a gift. The former member of Night Raid accepted the gift and left the apartment and began on his way back home when the sound of footsteps echoed in his ears.

The new devil stopped his tracks and remained at one place without doing anything and after a short while started walking again. Not even five minutes had passed when the same sound echoed again, but yet the boy didn`t do anything and just looked at the window of a big shop. Focusing his eyes he saw the reflection of the dark figure at around four meters behind him, but decided to ignore it and continue his way.

Reaching the house, the pawn saw the lights in the hall turned on and suggested that the rest must be having dinner, and made a step forward when the sound of footsteps reached his ears. He took a step back, let out a sign and spoke up.

"This is called stalking, you know?" The boy said to someone and turned around.

"So you noticed me?" A voice came from behind a tree near the house`s front door as and man came out from behind it. "Quite impressive, if I must say myself."

The member of the family took a closer look and saw that the person had dark silver hair and ice blue eyes and wore dark green V-neck shirt, with a high-collared black jacket over it. Going down his cloths consisted of burgundy colored jeans, with a silver chain drooping down over them, and he has black pant-like garments that cover the majority of his pants, with three bands encircling his calf on his right leg and finally black shoes with black buckles. And by the looks of it he was somewhere around his age too.

"I thought you are suspicious when you came out of that old house near the school and now that I see you enter Hyoudou`s house, I can finally reach to a conclusion." The stranger explained. "You are an underling of Rias Gremory, I am right?"

"And what if I am?" The former assassin questioned as his voice became serious out of nowhere and his eyes gave a threatening feeling. "However, you are the one who followed me, so I should be asking the questions here. Start by telling who are you and what do you want?" He added.

"You are quite the pressing one, aren`t you?!" The man stated, putting his hands in his pockets.

"I am sorry, but it`s been a long day for me and I am really tired." The devil explained. "Now, if you please answer my question."

"Don`t be like this. My name is Vali Lucifer and I am the White Dragon Emperor." The stranger introduced himself as the second part caught the boy`s attention.

'Now when I think about it, I did hear Issei being the Red Dragon Emperor.' Tatsumi noted to himself. "So what do you want?" He questioned ignoring his line of thoughts.

"I am just passing by to check on my arch rival, Hyoudou Issei." Vali stated and turned around. "Well, I think it`s enough for now. See you around, Rias Gremory`s servant." The dark silver-haired boy said and disappeared in the darkness

The former assassin remained outside for a minute before deciding to head back inside just in time for the dinner, which was greatly welcomed by Tatsumi, who was still hungry, since he didn`t ate properly at noon. After dinner there was no talking between the devils, so the boy had a shower and went to bed. It didn`t take long for him to fall asleep, marking the end of his first Monday in this new strange world, but even so he felt that this was going to be a great new beginning for him, believing that he can accomplish that with the help of his new family and friends.


	6. Chapter 6

**PLEASE READ FIRST!**

**Hey there, everyone! So I am uploading chapter 6 of my Akame ga Kill x High School DxD fanfiction. This is probably going to be one of longest chapters in the story, so please bear with it as I will try not to outdo myself with much longer ones. Anyways, I will save what I want to say for the end of the chapter, but I will touch a little on the most important thing, which is that I decided to revive another character from AgK in order to put it as a challenge before Tatsumi in his way of becoming stronger and adapting with DxD world. This character will make it`s appearance later in this chapter, so please be patient and please no hate. **

**That said, I am leaving you with my long chapter in which there will be fights and fateful reunions. I hope that you like it and you will enjoy yourself reading my work. : ) **

_**Chapter 6 – Rescue mission**_

The next four days passed unnoticeably fast for the Tatsumi, yet quite normal and calm. School was going pretty well as the boy managed to get in step with almost all subjects, except for the math and politics and while the math was somewhat difficult for him, the politics just seemed not interesting for the matter. He started getting closer with most of his classmates as well as they began seeing him as nice, kind and interesting boy. Even the some of the girls from the class gathered courage to talk to him, which slightly annoyed his 'brother-in-law' and the other two members of the 'Perverted Trio'. Rias went all the way to take him to her and Akeno`s class to meet Sona Sitri and Tsubaki Shinra, fellow third year students and devils as well, as it turned out that Sona was the very heiress to her family just like Rias was to hers.

After school`s the group spent most of the time at the club house talking about random stuff. Azazel also showed couple of times and when he did, the man always asked about Tatsumi`s weapon, revealing his interest in it, secondly speaking about Issei`s Boosted Gear and Gasper`s Forbidden Balor View. The former assassin did two more assignments, both of which managed to finish without any troubles, thus further annoying the other brown-haired boy, who had couple of disappointing first assignments after just becoming a devil.

And so it came Saturday, which marked a week and two days since Tatsumi ended up in this world and it was also the same time from the day he died, leaving the rest of Night Raid to fight behind. The last night he had a dream, or rather nightmare was more accurately to say. In it he saw all of his previous friends being killed right in front of his eyes not just by a random enemy, but the so called 'Empire`s strongest', Esdeath. Waking up, the boy wiped sweat from his face and started breathing heavily for the next one minute, after which he hit himself with fist on the face just when Akeno was opening the door to see if he was awake. Seeing the scene before her, the queen ran to the boy and asked him if he`s okay, receiving a 'yes' and a big innocent smile in reply.

Currently, the whole group just except for Yuuto and Gasper, gathered in front of the house and prepared to head towards the Occult Research Club`s operating building.

"Come on, Ise." Rias called out her servant as she and the rest waited for the boy outside.

"I am coming." Issei replied from inside.

"Issei-san seems kind of sleepy so far today." Asia stated with a worried voice

"I told him to go to bed early, but he didn`t listen and watched television until midnight." Xenovia explained.

"It seems you are awake now." A voice interrupted from the right.

The devils turned towards the direction of the source when they saw Azazel approaching them with a rather quickened step and a serious look on his face.

"Good Morning!" They greeted with a low tone.

"Good Morning!" Issei added just coming out from the house.

"There is an emergency. We need to hurry up to the club house, there I will explain everything to you." The fallen angel said and led the rest.

In half an hour everyone including Kiba and Gasper were at the club`s hall as pretty much almost of them found a place, excluding Azazel and Tatsumi, who decided to remain standing for now. The family waited with patience for the man to tell them what they have to hear.

"You said an emergency, right?" Rias questioned the club`s advisor. "What has happened?"

"You remember when I told that Vali and his team attacked 'Grigori' last Sunday, right?" The leader of the said organization asked and seeing the rest nod in agreement continued. "Yesterday they attacked the Underworld this time."

The said caught surprised everyone present in the room and the attention towards Azazel became even stronger, hinting that they want a better and more detailed explanation.

"The Underworld?" Issei questioned with a surprised look on his face. "Why would that guy do this?"

"It was most probably an order from the leaders of Khaos Brigade. Recently, they have began attempting terrorist attacks now and then, just like at the meeting of the three factors." The man answered.

"Do you have any idea, why are they doing this?" Kiba questioned next in line.

"Originally, Khaos Brigade was founded by Ophis with the sole purpose of removing 'The Great Red' dragon from the Dimensional Gap." He stopped to take a break and renewed his explanation. "However, from some time now their goal has changed as they are planning to create another war between every possible race and factor."

"So what did they do this time?" Xenovia asked, bringing them straight to the problem.

"They have attacked Riser Phenex and his peerage." Azazel replied back, shocking everyone, except for Tatsumi, who didn`t know who they were talking about.

"They attacked that guy?" Issei literally shouted.

"Yes and according to what I heard they have already defeated the 'Immortal Bird', forcing him to retreat deep in his mansion with all of his servants." The fallen angel explained.

"But how did they beat him?" Issei questioned. "I mean, that guy is arrogant and all, but he is still strong."

"That`s true, but compared to Vali, who do you think will win?" The man stated, making Hyoudou to clench his hands into fists and bow his head down.

"So what are trying to accomplish by attacking him?" Tatsumi asked, making his appearance in the conversation.

"I assume Sirzechs`s little sister knows that much too." The leader of 'Grigori' mentioned and turned towards Rias.

"Currently he is one of the 72 pillars of the Underworld." The crimson-haired girl explained. "I think that they are trying to provoke the Underworld starting a war against them just like Kokobiel wanted."

"It`s exactly like she said. Khaos Brigade wants to create a war, so that they can rebuild the entire world as they want." Azazel continued for the pure-blooded devil.

"Rebuild, huh?" The former assassin whispered to himself.

"And so Sirzechs asked if you can go and help Riser Phenex." The club`s advisor stated "You can just save and bring him at Gremory`s mansion. I am sure Vali won`t go that far and attack there." He added.

"Why do we have to help that guy?" Issei cried out. "I mean he did some horrible things to the President."

"Ise!" Rias said in a whisper.

"I understand how you feel, but leaving him aside, are you okay with letting the rest of his peerage follow the same fate?" The new pawn spoke up, catching everyone`s attention.

"I agree with the newbie here." Azazel supported the devil`s words. "There are 14 devils leaving with him."

Silence moved in for the next few minutes as no one dared to say or do anything, creating a depressing mood in the atmosphere around them, which reflected on the devils, even if it was slightly.

"Let`s go, Ise." Rias said to her pawn as she went next to him and placed her hands on his face. "We can settle things with Riser some other time."

"The President is right. What matters now is stopping the further progress of eventual war." Akeno noted with a smile on her face.

The group quickly gathered and prepared to go to the Underworld as Tatsumi was glad he had his sword with him. Azazel gave Gremory`s first pawn two bracelets, which will help him activate his Balance Breaker if needed, as return Rias asked the fallen angel to watch over Gasper while they are gone. Right at the moment, they gathered in the center of the room, waiting for the magical circle that will take them to the world under this one.

"Do your best." The advisor said, encouraging the others. "After you leave I will go to Serafall`s little sister and asks her to provide you with some back up."

"Please do." Rias said on her turn when a red magical circle appeared under the group and after a minute disappeared, teleporting at the desired place.

It was like blink of an eye when the devils found themselves at the other world as they took a look around. For Rias, Akeno, Yuuto, Koneko and Issei it wasn`t anything new, since they have been here before, which mostly referred about the crimson-haired girl hence she`s a pure-blooded devil and has been raised here. On the other hand, for Tatsumi, Asia and Xenovia it was their first time going to the Underworld. Finishing the check up, the former assassin realized that they are in some kind of forest, as everywhere he looked only trees appeared before his eyes. The only sign of civilization he saw was an old looking mansion at the distance, around 200 meters from them.

"So this is the Underworld?" Xenovia questioned and bowed her head down. "I admit it`s not like I imagined it to be."

"It`s so peaceful here." Asia stated next.

"Yes, this world has been peaceful like this since the 'Old Satan Faction' was overthrow by force." Rias explained. "And now we have to help to keep it like this." She added and looked at her servants. "Riser`s mansion is on 10 minutes walk from here and there are two paths that lead to it."

The devil said and pointed to her right, hinting to the others to pay attention.

"This is the first and shorter path. It takes straight at the front entrance of the house." Gremory stated and pointed to the other side. "The other route is in that direction in about 50 meters. It is an underground passage for emergency situations like this. However, knowing Riser and his proud self, he probably forgot about it already."

"So what should we do then?" Yuuto asked next.

"It`s simple, we split up into two groups." The crimson-haired ruin princess answered at the second. "The first one will consist of me, Issei, Asia and Koneko as we will take the shorter path, while the second one will be formed of Akeno, Yuuto, Xenovia and Tatsumi, who will take the route for emergencies."

"Understood!" The rest replied together.

"There is a fountain in the backyard of the mansion. Our priority is saving everyone and gathering there, where we will teleport to my brother`s mansion." Rias explained their tasks. "That is all. Let`s move out."

And so they split into two groups as ordered by the family`s master and headed on a rescue mission to save Riser Phenex and his peerage from Vali team, which was Tatsumi`s first big mission after joining the household. The boy walked with his sword, key of the demon armor Incursio in his hand with eyes that showed his determination to fight to protect those important to him, even if it was needed to kill the enemies, just like he did back in his world.

Meanwhile, inside Riser`s mansion, the Phenex were having hard time holding the opponents as the situation got worse by every second. The head of the family was wounded heavily and retreated deep inside the house to heal accompanied by his queen, while couple of rooms ahead the rest of the devils gathered to rest and protect the entrance, leading to the so called 'Immortal bird'. Many of them were seriously injured as well, especially the two knights and one of the rooks, who had broken arms or legs. They even had wounds that showed signs of stabbing on their bodies, but the most critical condition was that of the queen, that went with Riser. Her left arm was literally cut by the enemy and she had a huge wound of her stomach, for which even healing magic wasn`t enough to help. The only unharmed ones were the two bishops, Riser`s yonger sister Ravel and Mihae.

Ravel was a young girl around her teens with a blonde hair and dark blue eyes. She had her hair tied in twin ponytails with large, drill-like curls, and blue ribbons keeing them in place. The front of part had several bangs hanging over her forehead, with a V-shaped fringe hanging over the bridge of her nose. She wore initial outfit consisted of a light purple dress with dark purple accents and a blue bow at the front. At the back, three feather-like extensions mimicking a bird's tail protrude from the dress.

"They just don`t seem to stop with the attacks." Ravel stated, helping one of the pawns to get up.

"And it doesn`t look like they will stop anytime soon." Xuelan, one of the rooks added.

"Hey Ravel! Do you think we should use that secret passage under the mansion?" A young girl with blue hair and light blue eyes questioned the bishop.

"What are you saying Mira?" The blonde-haired girl replied in a mean tone. "There`s no way my brother will lose to such enemies. He just needs a little rest."

"Even so, Riser-sama isn`t the same after he lost to Gremory`s pawn." Another pawn interrupted.

"It was indeed a surprise that our master lost in the match." One of the knights added. "However, I am sure he will get over it and fend off the attackers."

"Karlamine, as always you are so calm and believing." Mira replied with a smile.

"That`s the spirit Karlamine." Ravel noted. "We have to believe in our…" She tried to further encourage her friends, but was interrupted by a loud sound and a strong earthquake.

"What was that?" Xuelan questioned, leaning herself on the wall.

Just like that the door to the front opened, forcing everyone to get prepared the fastest way they can, expecting an enemy to appear, but were surprised to see the second knight, Siris, entering the room in a hurry, after which she closed the door and slide down, while leaning on it, giving a sign of relief.

"Siris, what is happening outside?" Karlamine asked the girl.

"You won`t believe who came to our rescue." The other knight said, catching up her breath, earning special attention from the other girls and seeing that she continued. "Rias Gremory and her peerage are outside fighting the enemy."

"What?" Ravel questioned as her eyes widened instantly. "Rias Gremory?"

"Does that mean they are here to help us?" Mira asked next in astonishment.

Suddenly, the wall to right broke, creating a huge hole from which appeared a man with black hair and brown eyes, wearing a Chinese armor. After him showed what looked like wolf with ash grey fur, standing at about 10 meters tall and a young woman with a voluptuous figure, long black hair with split bangs and hazel eyes with cat-like pupils.

"Finally found you." The woman stated.

"If you let us go through that door behind you, we won`t lay a single finger on you." The wolf explained to the girl of the Phoenix`s family.

"Do you think we will let you that easily?" Karlamine replied back. "Don`t underestimate us."

"Why does everyone chooses the hard way?" The man in the Chinese questioned, showing a sign of not wanting to fight the girls.

"Don`t think you have won just yet. My brother will shortly heal and come to defeat all of you." Ravel stated with a proud voice.

"Little selfish girl!" The wolf said and dashed at the Reiser`s sister.

"Ravel, watch out!" Siris shouted.

However, the distance was very small and the girl didn`t have time to dodge the upcoming attack and simply closed her eyes, preparing herself to be hit, but instead a loud sound ringed in everyone`s years and floor under the girl cracked open, lifting her and the enemy in the air. Even so, the wolf used a piece of the floor to launch at the blonde-haired devil again and when he was close enough, he swung his right hand, aiming the sharp claws at the target.

Just before the hit was fact, Tatsumi jumped out of hole and reaching the enemy, used his sword to block the attack. After which, he flipped in the air and landed a kick in the wolf`s face, sending him back to his group.

"Now`s the time, Akeno!" The former assassin shouted as the black-haired girl appeared from the hole, flying with her wings. She took the falling girl and lifted all the way to the ceiling.

Then she pointed the forefinger of her right hand up as sparks began to appear around, after which she pointed it to the enemy and shot lightning at them. The attack was so fast that the three opponents didn`t manage to track it before it hit the floor next to them. The following impact was so hard enough to sent them back through the place they entered.

Shortly after that, Yuuto and Xenovia jumped out of the whole again and together with Tatsumi took a stand before the girls, waiting for the opponents. The queen landed on the ground and let Ravel go, giving her a cheerful smile.

"I don`t believe it." Karlamine stated with wide opened eyes. "They are really here to help us."

"Oh my, I am sorry for making such a mess." Akeno said, while taking a look around.

"How did you get here?" Ravel questioned the black-haired girl.

"We used the emergency passage you have." Kiba answered. "The President and the rest are using the front entrance thought."

"Now that I didn`t expect." A voice interrupted them as the members of Vali`s team stood up and passed through their little entrance again.

"Honestly, the Gremory household from all." The young woman added.

"I apologize if I hurt you, but this is what you get for doing bad things." Himejima stated with devilish smile on her face as sparks started gathering around her again

"Go get your master." Xenovia said turning towards Ravel. "We will deal with those here."

"You are just annoying brats." The wolf cursed in a replay. "But, I will play along, especially with you." He added and turned towards Tatsumi.

"After regrouping Riser, go at the fountain in the backyard." Akeno whispered to Ravel`s ear. "There you will meet up with Rias and the rest. You can tell him that this is an order from Lord Sirzechs if it will help."

Riser`s peerage listened and went through the door behind, leaving their saviors to fight the enemy.

At the same time, outside the mansion Rias, Issei and Koneko were dealing with a group of magicians sent from Khaos Brigade to support Vali`s team in the mission to eliminate Reiser Phoenix. Asia hid herself behind a tree and ordered by the crimson-haired devil, waiting on a standby if someone has to treated by her Sacred Gear.

Currently the group was fighting the last few remaining magicians as they got overpowered by Rias when Issei transferred his charge into her. The result was devastating, which was proven when after she released her demonic energy at the enemy, leaving no even a single one of those who were caught in it as well as creating a huge crater in the ground.

At the moment, one of the magicians decided to attack the heiress of the Gremory family in the back by shooting laser at the latter, but to no avail as Hyoudou took a stand of the laser and deflected it with his Boosted Gear. However, the same magician decided to try again, aiming for the boy this time.

"Dragon Shot!" The pawn shouted and fired a beam of his magical energy, which ran through the enemy`s attack like it was nothing and hit the enemy itself.

Not even a second later another enemy tried her luck aiming for Issei, but this attempt was predicted when Koneko jumped in front of the opponent and landed a quick punch in her stomach, which resulted in the magician coughing some blood, dropping her guard completely. The rook saw that and back a step and after that made a 360 decrees turn to the right while lifting her right leg, which ended up in the enemy`s face, sending crashing on the ground.

"Have you had enough?" Rias questioned and moved her vision to the remaining two magicians, which floated in the air.

"Don`t give in!" One of the enemies shouted to the other one. "We can take them if we attack together."

The four opponents prepared for attack again and started gathering magical energy, attempting to cast a big spell.

"Like we will let you do that." Issei screamed and ran ahead. "President, allow permission for a promotion."

"Ise?" The pure-blooded devil said, being surprised to the boy`s decision, but after a moment she smiled and replied back. "Very well, I permit."

"Okay!" Hyoudou replied. "Promotion, Knight!" He shouted and jumped in the air.

Using the speed of the knight, the boy found himself right before the opponents in no time and then he landed a punch in the face of one of them, using his dragon-like hand. The magician just fell on the ground and lost consciousness, which angered the other one and she turned towards the back of the still falling at the ground boy. However, before she could do anything, Koneko grabbed the body of the one that just fell and tossed it straight at her, taking out of air with it, making her lose her awareness as well.

"That was not so hard." Issei stated, regrouping with Rias and Koneko.

"Asia, you may come out now." Rias said to the hiding bishop.

"I am coming." Argento answered and jumped out behind the tree she hid herself and went to her friends.

"It doesn`t seem like Albion is here." Draig spoke all of a sudden from the boy`s hand.

"Are you serious?" Issei asked in a surprise. "Then who could force Riser to retreat this far?"

"It`s strange indeed. Maybe there is someone we don`t know about." The crimson-haired woman noted. "We will figure that later, but for now let`s head to the fountain." She added and looked at her servants, when Koneko made her special impression. "What`s wrong Koneko? You look worried."

"…It`s nothing. I just feel a little tired." The white-haired girl explained.

"Be sure to tell me if something is troubling you, okay?" Her master said as her voice became worried as well.

The rook didn`t answered, just nodded with head, which was enough for the family`s master and they continued their way towards the appointed place, where they had to regroup with the others before going to Gremory`s palace.

Meanwhile, in the deepest part of the mansion, in the darkest room, Riser Phenex lied on a bed alongside his wounded queen, but unlike her most of his wounds have closed up by now. Even so, the man didn`t want to go outside and fight again the enemy. Ever since his lost to Hyoudou Issei, he shut himself inside the mansion and neither went anywhere nor he did anything more than spent time in his bedroom. And now that was putted on the risk, his life and those of his underlings, for which he didn`t care much, except for the queen and his sister Ravel. They were the one, who were important to him in this world and now he couldn`t do anything to prevent that as somewhere inside of him, his heart acted like it had already accepted this fate of his.

Suddenly, the sound of the door opening made the 'Immortal Bird' to get up in a sitting position and take a look who was coming, just to see his sister along with the entire peerage entering the room.

"Nii-sama!" Ravel said in a loud voice. "I have good news, although you might not like them much."

"What`s wrong Ravel? Why have you and the rest abandoned the front room, she was our last defense." Riser asked the blonde-haired girl.

"That`s what I want to talk to you." The bishop replied and after taking a deep breath spoke up. "Rias and her peerage are here and fighting the enemy."

"Rias you say? Are you sure?" The man questioned.

"Well, I haven`t seen her yet, but we all saw her queen along with three more servants, who right now are dealing with the attackers in the front room." She stopped for a moment and continued. "The queen said that by order from Lord Sirzechs they are here to take us to safe place."

"Don`t give me that." Riser shouted. "I don`t care about nothing anymore."

"Nii-sama, please let them help us." Ravel said and kneeled before her brother, shortly followed by the rest of his servants. "Please, let`s forget what happened at least for now, if you want to save Yubelluna-san from dying."

Silence moved in for a minute in which even the bishop didn`t dare say or do anything. In that minute, the king took a full look of his wounded and un consciousness queen, blood was almost everywhere on her body.

"I will go with Lord Sirzerchs will this time." The blonde-haired man answered and picked up Yubelluna from the bed, taking her in his hands. "Let`s go." He said and lead the rest through the door.

Around 100 meters ahead, Tatsumi and his rescue group were fighting Vali`s team for about ten minutes now. The battle itself was a total mess as there wasn`t any individual duels and everyone fought with who they saw in front of them. However, the young woman was able to escape being tasked to get back up when Xenovia tried to stop her, but was interrupted by the wolf.

Currently, the members of the Vali team were having their chance to attack. The wolf suddenly increased the speed of his attacks and took on the former assassin head on. He dashed at the boy and tried to bite him, but the latter was able to dodge by jumping over the enemy. Sadly for Tatsumi, the attacker turned around in an instant and swung his left claw at the boy, who was forced to block with the sword, which lightened the force of the hit, but even so it was enough to sent him couple of meters back.

Unfortunately, the pawn didn`t have any time to rest as the black-haired man appeared behind him and swung his stick at his head, leaving no time to avoid or block. Just before the hit was fact, Yuuto jumped in front of the attack and blocked it for his friend, only to be attacked by the wolf in the back, but ended up being saved by Xenovia, who deflected the stretched claw with her sword.

Suddenly, a lightning came down at the wolf, who was being reminded that Akeno was still there as well. Fortunately for him, he was a part of the second faster and dodged to right, after which he launched himself at the queen in a incredible speed.

Seeing the potential threat for his friend, Tatsumi drove the black-haired man back by giving him an elbow in the stomach, then he didn`t waste a second more and grabbed Kiba for his hand and spun around.

"Go now, Yuuto!" He shouted and let the hand, boosting his friend, who got the idea immediately and used his speed as a knight to dash towards the enemy and block the attack with his sword.

Seeing that, the wolf made a summersault in the air until his back legs reached the ceiling and used it to dash straight at Xenovia, who noticing the incoming like a bomb attacker also made a backward summersault on the ground, thus avoiding it in the progress. Sadly, the next threat came right after that as the man with the Chinese armor jumped behind her and swung his stick at her head again, but to no avail as the girl blocked the attack by using the Durandal to shield her back, by thrusting in the floor reaching over her head.

However, the man wasn`t done and he proved it by easily manage to aim the stick at the knight`s legs.

"Jump now, Xenovia!" Tatsumi shouted and dashed at the girl as she did exactly as told and jumped in air.

The former assassin used this chance and slid under her and when he was close enough, he aimed his legs sword in the enemy`s stomach, stabbing him it the progress. After which, he pulled it out and used his legs to push the man few meters back, sending him on the ground. Unfortunately, as soon as Tatsumi got up on his legs, the wolf landed his front right paw in the boy`s stomach so hard that it sent him crashing at one of the walls. After which, he somehow managed to regain control and land on his legs just before falling on the floor.

"You are pretty good for brats at this age." The wolf stated. "To be able to last this long against us, but even that has its limit."

"Don`t fuck with me. There`s no way I would let someone like you defeat us." Tatsumi replied back as he stood up and suddenly closed his eyes.

'His attacks are way too fast to track for me, but even so I can… No we can still win.' He noted to himself and took a fighting stance, by slightly leaning forward and placing his sword behind as he opened them again and launched at the wolf.

However, this time he was so fast that even Kiba and the enemy itself failed to track him as he found himself in front of the opponent in less than a instant. The wolf remained stunned and reacted automatically by trying to bite the new member of the Gremory household, with the hope to get his head before he gets him. But nothing like that happened as Tatsumi simply ducked under the attack and then leaned to the right, surprising the enemy in the progress.

"You are a foolish brat!" The wolf stated and turned towards the boy, but left surprised when he saw him smirking as he moved his pupils right, hinting something.

It was that moment, the opponent remembered about the other members of the Gremory family and immediately turned back, but was a second too late.

"Sword Birth!" Yuuto`s voice echoed through the room as he thrust his sword in the ground.

In a second, couple of magical circles in a circle formation appeared on the ground, from which came out a sword per circle and turned towards the member of Vali`s team, and simply launched at him, piercing through his hard skin like sweet cheese. The sound of pain escaped the wolf`s lips as he felt his body slowly giving in, but sadly it wasn`t over when Xenovia jumped from the left and cut his head and escaped as quick as she could, leaving the finishing touch for the queen, who by now had gathered most of her magical power.

"Holy Lightning Dragon!" The black-haired girl stated and shot lightning shaped in the form of an Asian Dragon, which after making a loop in the air, aimed straight at the opponent and devoured him in the blink of an eye.

Smoke appeared at the place of the impact, leaving the group to wait for the result, which it was revealed to them after two minutes, when they saw the sight of the wolf`s unmoving body lying on the ground, marking their victory.

"I knew you could do it." Tatsumi stated as went next to group.

"Nice bluff." Xenovia complimented the boy. "It was the bluff that gave us the opening to attack."

"I agree. Tatsumi-kun did the most difficult part of us four." Kiba added next.

"Stop it. We did it because we acted as a team." The pawn replied back. "And that is a good sign."

"Oh my, just what I was thinking." Akeno noted and giggled.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps ringed in their ears as they turned towards the door that they defended to see Reiser and his peerage coming out from it. The first thing that the former assassin noticed was the terrible condition of the one in the man`s arms.

"Here they are." Himejina noted.

"Where`s Rias?" The 'Immortal Bird' asked, going straight to business and ignoring the greetings.

"The President must be outside at the fountain in your backyard." Gremory`s queen explained. "We arranged that place as a meeting point."

"Where are the enemies?" Ravel questioned.

"Two of them managed to escape. The woman and the man, as for the wolf you can see yourself." Tatsumi said and pointed to the dead body on the ground.

"You killed the wolf?" Karlamine noted in astonishment.

"We can save the talk for later. Now we have to meet up with the President." Xenovia changed the subject back to the more important one.

In less than ten minutes they were at the fountain, which was pretty close to the mansion, only three meters. There they were awaited by Rias, Issei, Koneko and Asia. For some it was joyful seeing them, like it was the case with Ravel and the other girls from the Phenex family. The only unhappy one was Riser himself, who by seeing the crimson-haired woman and the boy to whom he lost, got even more sour than he already was.

"Is that all of you?" Rias questioned the blonde-haired man.

"Yeah." He shortly replied.

"Where`s Vali?" Issei took the courage to ask.

"Who?" Riser questioned with a faced that showed he doesn`t know who is Hyoudou speaking about.

"The White Dragon Emperor." The heiress of the Gremory family answered in her servant`s place. "He is the leader of the group that attacked you. Also, he has to be the one that managed to defeat you, right?"

"You are wrong." Ravel interrupted. "The one that attacked Nii-sama and made Yubelluna-san in this condition was not the White Dragon Emperor."

"Then, is it someone from the ones we fought?" Akeno questioned next.

"That`s not right either." Xuelan interrupted. "It was…" She tried to explain, but was cut off by a loud sound and the image of mansion breaking from inside.

The brigs of the wall scattered in multiple directions, passing by them by pure luck. Smoke erupted at the spot and an icy, cold feeling filled the air, giving everyone a cold shiver down their spines. Then the sound of footsteps got through the air and ended in the devil`s ears.

"It seems that you can`t count on the weak to finish a job for the strong ones." A voice came from the same direction, catching everyone`s attention, but not as much as it caught Tatsumi`s. For the fact that it sounded somewhat familiar and that worried him the most.

'This voice, there`s no mistaking it no matter how much time it passes.' He noted to himself. 'But why is that person here now of all places. She must be…' He analyzed in his mind where a thought hit him. 'It can`t possibly be what I am thinking.' The former assassin said

"That`s the one that did this to Yubelluna." Riser stated, catching everyone`s attention and it was just what Tatsumi needed to hear, even thought he didn`t.

The brown-haired boy slowly sneaked to the right without anyone noticing it and prepared for the worst when the voice spoke up again.

"Well, it seems I will have to enjoy myself more." The voice with an unknown source said as the sound of the steps got louder and louder by the second.

In less the moment, a person came out from the smoke and stood before the devils. It was a tall, beautiful and slender woman with long blue hair and blue eyes. She wore a General's apparel with long sleeves, a blue scarf on her neck, and high-heeled boots, finished by a tattoo on her chest.

"A woman?" Issei questioned in surprise.

"Looks like I will have plenty of entertainment dealing with such numbers." The woman replied as if she ignored the boy`s astonishment. "Shall we…" She tried to put a start of the battle, when something caught her attention.

She turned left only to see a flying towards her head kick, so she concentrated on that and jumped to the left, thus avoiding the attack. Landing on the ground, the woman slowly stood up and began to lift her head.

"This is great! A perfect…" She tried to compliment the attacker, but stopped with the sentence when her eyes got a complete look on the opponent, who was no other than the former member of Night Raid and her eyes widened at the instant. "Tatsumi?" She questioned weakly.

"It`s been a while, Esdeath." The pawn replied calmly

"What?" Ise shouted, like he couldn`t follow anything at all. "Do you know this woman Tatsumi?" He added, earning himself special attention from the two.

Silence moved in for about a minute, in which they just stared at each other and everyone else stared at them. The mood became killingly depressing, marking the start of the game of nerves.

"So you were alive all this time and even in the same world as me again?" Esdeath spoke up, breaking the silence.

"I should say I don`t believe it even right now either, but for you to be sent here, that means Akame did her job and killed you." The former assassin replied. "I am slightly relieved now."

"Why are you so cold to me?" The woman questioned, being affected by the boy`s words. "Isn`t this reunion a sign of fate that we are…"

"Give up on that." Tatsumi shortly and rudely cut her off. "It appears everywhere we go we will be fated to be enemies."

"Hey, just what is going on…?" Issei again interrupted just to be interrupted by Esdeath, who swung her right hand backwards and created glacial lobe and attempted to throw at Hyoudou.

However, the newest member of the Gremory household interfered by dashing in no time to her and then with fast and hard swung with his right leg, landed a blow on the woman, enough to send her crashing in the nearby wall. After that he regrouped with the others.

"We have to get out of here now." He shouted.

"What are saying?" Issei said in a louder voice. "We are some many and she is only one." He tried to convince his friend to attack instead.

"Tatsumi, what is happening?" Rias asked next. "Who is that woman?"

"I will explain later, but now we have to get out of here." The boy answered.

The crimson-haired girl looked at the boy and seeing the seriousness in his eyes, bowed her head down and lifted both of her hands like 'T' and just like that a magical circle appeared under them.

"You won`t get away." Esdeath said, coming out from the pile of brigs and dashed at the devils.

Fortunately for them, the transportation spell was faster and they disappeared just before the blue-haired woman reached the group, leaving her empty handed. She stood there unmoving for a moment and just stared at the sky above her as the feeling of both Tatsumi`s words and hit remained a bitter taste in her mouth, but even so she wasn`t sure what and how to feel about it. Then, the former general turned around and headed inside the abandoned mansion of the Phenex household. Before entering it, Esdeath turned once more and put a hand on her chest.

"I am sure will meet again Tatsumi. I still haven`t given up on you." The woman stated and after that disappeared inside.

Meanwhile, both the Gremory and the Phenex households arrived at Gremory`s palace, the place where Rias real family lived. It was a big building with five floors and long around 400 meters of what it could be seen. Tatsumi remained silent for some time, while Rias went to see her brother, Sirzechs Lucifer, and inform him that the rescue mission was successful. Riser and his peerage showed their gratitude to the lord and went to tend the injured one`s wound. Sirzechs offered his sister and her servants to spend the night here and return to the human world tomorrow, which was greatly accepted by everyone of the household.

After dinner, the crimson-haired woman called her peerage at her room to discuss what happened today. It didn`t take a second before everyone`s eyes stopped on the former assassin, waiting for a proper explanation.

"Now then Tatsumi, can you explain what was today`s incident about?" The pure-blooded devil asked her underling, who sat next to the room`s window and stared from it when he took his eyes of it and turned towards the others of the group.

"Do you remember when I said that I was an assassin back in my world and that the Empire`s tried to stop the rebellion by killings us." He said and seeing the rest nod continued. "Seeing ordinary soldier were not effective, the Empire began sending it`s best of the best, until it resolved to the one person bearing the title 'Empire`s Strongest'. The person all of you saw today was the one wore that title."

"That woman was the so called 'Empire Strongest'?" Xenovia questioned in a surprise.

"I didn`t see that coming." Yuuto noted.

"But according to you, she was from the Empire, right? So what did she appear to talk to you so freely?" Rias questioned.

The following question left hanging like a scar in the boy`s head as he clenched his hands into fists.

"Due to some events while I was a part of Night Raid, I entered a contest by that woman with a big cash reward. Back then my name and face still weren`t on the wanted posters, so I decided to give it a try in order to send some money to the village I come from." He stopped to take a rest.

"And…?" Issei urged him to continue.

"As a result I won the contest and waited for my reward, not knowing that I accidently fit Esdeath`s criteria for her 'perfect man'." Tatsumi said, which seemed to be not expected by the rest. "In other words, you can say she fell in love with me and as a result took me against my will with her. Because of that I was able to get to know her little by little, even if it was for a short time, before I escaped. After that I met her couple more times."

"That`s some crazy story there." Hyoudou stated, putting his hand behind his head.

"So what kind of person is she? And is she that bad?" Akeno asked the boy.

"For her it goes the following motto 'weak die, because they are weak and only the strong survive'." The new pawn explained. "To her lives of the weak ones serve for entertainment of the strong ones. She lives by killing again and again." He stopped once more to take a break. "And that is not something you can convince her at, because I stupidly tried only to fail at the beginning."

"That sounds really messed up personality." Xenovia stated "Even a maniac like Kokabiel can`t compare to her."

"What about her ability? I remember seeing her create ice out of nothing?" Kiba questioned next in line.

"Her ability is called 'Demon Extract'." Tatsumi answered.

"Demon Extract?" What`s that exactly?" Rias asked her servant.

"It`s a weapon created from the blood of very rare danger beast. It allows her to manipulate ice at will as well as creating it from nothing. Apart of that, she is very skilled with the sword and in hand-to-hand combat, completed with her high intelligence along with something like a 'sixth sense'. That all makes her an enemy anyone will rather avoid fighting." Tatsumi explained by telling almost everything.

"So how did she end up here?" Akeno questioned, showing a deep interest.

"I assume by the same way I did." The former assassin answered.

"So she has seen 'The Great Red' as well? The black-haired girl guessed.

"That would make sense." Rias supported the guess.

"Oh, I have a question." Issei interrupted by lifting his right hand like a kid who wants to answer a teacher`s question. "Who`s Akame? You mentioned that name today as well."

"That`s the name of the best assassin in the entire Night Raid and a very precious friend of mine." The new devil answered.

"I am glad you were honest with us and shared this information with us." Rias said and smiled at the boy. "Now everyone, let`s go back to bed. It`s already pass 11:00 p.m..

And so the group went to bed as the girls were in Rias` room, white Tatsumi, Issei and Yuuto had to sleep in a guest room. They all fell asleep at the moment, showing how much they were tired from that long day full of battles and reunions, most remembering of which was the one between Tatsumi and Esdeath. Two former enemies were now again on the other side, but even the new pawn felt somewhat uneasy about it, because he was the only one that knew that person`s pain and past experience and why she turned into the woman she was today, not ever going to change. And he once again reached to the conclusion that it was unavoidable that he had to end her life this time by his own two hands.

**PLEASE READ BEFORE LEAVING THIS PAGE!**

**So chapter 6 **_**"Rescue mission"**_** is done and as I mentioned at the beginning this probably will be one of the longest chapters in this fanfic, since as you can tell it`s really difficult writing such long chapters, my fingers went numb couple of times in the progress. **

**Anyways, let`s move to the more important part, which as you, readers noticed while reading, is that I revived Esdeath as well. That`s right, you heard me, the Ultimate sadist of the Akame ga Kill series is now in the DxD world and continues to enjoy torturing her enemies as noticed by the description of the wounds on Reiser`s queen. I know many fans of AgK like this character and may react to overjoyed, thinking there might be TatsumixEsdeath in this fanfiction. I too like Esdeath, but I am going to be clear and say there will not be such a thing in this story, like it or not. As mentioned before the start of the chapter, the reason for reviving her is to put a challenge on Tatsumi and his path of becoming stronger and getting accustomed to world of High School DxD. There might be some ValixEsdeath moments as I thought that those two characters are quite similar, so there`s another thing to watch out for.**

**This said, I`m leaving you for now. I hope you like the chapter and that you will enjoyed from this page of this website. Feedbacks are very welcomed even critiques, but if you have such, let them be constructive on like how I can improve on my grammar, characters styles, way of writing and such. **

**Once again, thank you for sparing some of your time to read all this! **

**See you all around! : )**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7 – Special training**_

Three days passed since the rescue mission in the Underworld and the unexpected meeting between Tatsumi and Esdeath, which happened in front of the whole Gremory and Phenex clan. After that, the boy became somewhat shut in himself and didn`t take much action in the club activities, participating only when it was needed. Through the rest of the time, besides going to school, he trained in the club`s back yard every single day for at least two hours. This didn`t go unnoticed by his friends, who couldn`t stop feeling bad for him, yet decided to leave him and not step on his patience. Even so, the days went quite normal that an outsider won`t be able to tell what is going on without taking a deeper look into their behavior.

So it was Wednesday again, which marked two weeks since the former assassin came into this world and just like back then, now he felt somewhat uncertain about everything. Tatsumi woke up in 7:15 a.m. and without wasting any time got up and fixed himself, after which he went downstairs to have breakfast. Everyone else were already there, hence they woke up little bit earlier than him.

"Good Morning!" He greeted the rest and yawned.

"Good Morning!" Everyone replied at the same time.

"How did you sleep?" Rias asked her servant.

"Pretty normal, thanks for asking." The boy answered. "Although, I still feel like I could have slept better."

"Tatsumi-san, are you having any bad dreams?" Asia questioned next after she drank from her tea and putted the cup on the table.

"Not really, but I haven`t had a good one recently either." The pawn replied back, while making himself a breakfast.

"Poor boy." Akeno stated, which surprised the new devil and he swallowed the bit without being able to chew it completely and he started coughing.

"Hey Akeno, be more careful with such phrases." Rias scolded the black-haired girl.

"Well, it`s not like I dislike it, so it`s fine." Tatsumi stated, finally calming his cough down. "Besides, it`s not something new to me."

"Are you still thinking about what happened on Saturday?" Rias questioned the newest member of the household.

"No, I almost forgot about it." Tatsumi lied, not wanting to worry his friends too much.

"You are lying." The crimson-haired girl caught him red handed. "You say that, but you…"

"Don`t mind me. I will be fine." The brown-haired boy interrupted in and got up from the table and headed back to his room to get his things for school, leaving a full cup of tea that was for him.

"Yup, he is still thinking about it." Issei said, after swallowing a bit of the bread.

"You can`t really blame him. He didn`t expect to meet that woman at the slightest ever again and now they are in the same world too, while still being on the opposite sides, just like they were back in their world." Xenovia explained, defending Tatsumi instead of him.

"Empire`s Strongest, huh?" Hyoudou said, mentioning who they were talking about. "Do you think it`s possible that it was her, who killed most of his friends?" The boy asked indirectly.

"It is very possible." Rias answered. "For that woman to able to defeat Riser and put his queen in such condition, she must be as dangerous as Tatsumi said. And it appears that she is also a member of Vali`s team, which makes it more difficult to deal with them."

"Well, we will think about it later." Akeno added. "Now, we should get going or we are going to be late for school."

"That`s right!" Asia noted.

The group quickly finished breakfast, gathered in front of the house and headed towards Kuoh Academy. For Tatsumi and his classmates the day in school went smoothly, calmly, normal, but boring as nothing interesting happened from the first to the last lesson, except that they got more math homework to do with a deadline next Monday. After school, the first years students of the Gremory family went outside in front of the academy`s entrance and waited for the rest as appointed by Rias. In less than five minutes, the entire group went for the club house, where they sat to talk about things, sharing what happened today, how their lessons passed, what they talked with their friends and more topics of the same type.

Currently, the girls were to the kitchen, where Rias asked her female servants to discuss something in a girly talk, while the boys stayed at the hall and did almost nothing, except for Kiba, who was reading a book and Gasper, who was playing games. Issei rested on the sofa and stared at the ceiling with a bored expression on his face. His day was not going so well as Matsuda and Motohama made a fuss again about him being surrounded by beautiful girls everywhere he went, which according by two boys, made Hyoudou spent less time with them, preferring to be with the Occult Research Club`s members instead. And although they were right, he felt irritated by the fact that they get their noses in his business.

Tatsumi on the other hand, seemed to not mind the boredom that ruled over the entire room and showed no signs of being annoyed by it. Seeing the other boys being taken away by their own thing, the former assassin decided to go and train in the backyard and headed towards the entrance.

"Are you going to train again?" Issei asked the boy, just before he opened the door, catching both Yuuto`s and Gasper`s attention,

However, the pawn didn`t receive an answer from his friend, who just ignored him and reached for the door`s handle, which angered the boy.

"Are you not going too far with that training of yours?" Issei shouted to the newest member of the family.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Tatsumi defended himself.

"Of course I do. Ever since the day of the rescue mission, you have been spending more time training than with us." Hyoudou replied back even with louder voice, just as the girls came out from the kitchen`s door, stopping their tracks at the progress. "Don`t you think that it`s a bit rude of you?"

"I am sorry if I offended you by any means, but I don`t think it`s wrong to spend my time like I want." The former assassin replied by increasing the level of his voice as well.

"Calm down you two." Rias interrupted in.

"I can`t calm down after being mistreated like this." Ise blurted out.

Suddenly, an red light starting glowing right between the two brown-haired boys, when a magical circle formed out of nowhere, catching everyone`s attention. Just like that two figures appeared from it, a man and a woman. The man looked like he was in his early 20s and had a crimson red hair and blue-green eyes, just like Rias. He wore black suit with a beige shirt and under it a white sweater with black necktie and lower part of the suit. The woman had both silver hair and eyes and wore a a blue and white French maid outfit with long sleeves and a white maid headband over her head, with red lipstick as a cosmetic accessory. She also appeared to be in her early twenties.

"It looks like things are really heated up here." The man spoke up.

"Onii-sama?" Rias replied in a surprised voice.

"Sirzechs-sama?" Issei stated back and just like that, Issei along with Akeno, Asia, Gasper, Koneko, Xenovia and Yuuto kneeled to the ground like they were showing honor to the man, leaving the only Rias, the two visitors and Tatsumi standing.

'So this man is Lord Sirzechs? If I remember right, he is supposed to be the President`s older brother.' The former assassin thought to himself.

"Is something the matter?" The crimson-haired girl asked.

"Not really. I just came to talk to Azazel, regarding the attack of the Phenex household." The man answered. "But in the meantime…" He added and turned towards the new pawn. "So you are Tatsumi, I assume. I am Sirzechs Lucifer, it`s a pleasure to meet you."

"No, the pleasure is mine." The newest member of the household replied and slightly bowed.

"I heard a lot about you from my sister and I must say your story really interested me." Sirzechs stated.

"It`s just a story like any else." Tatsumi replied, deciding to go modest, putting up a fake smile on his face.

"You don`t need to be so humble." The man explained. "A part from the meeting with Azazel, I am visiting as a fellow devil."

"What do you mean by that, Onii-sama?" Rias questioned her brother.

"Sirzechs-sama is here to 'let out the pressure' as he says." The silver-haired woman finally spoke, having an angered look on her face.

"Let out the pressure?" Issei asked with a wondered face.

"Oni-sama, you can`t possible mean?" The heiress of the Gremory family questioned.

"That`s right. It`s been quite a while since I had the chance to let out the pressure." Lucifer explained and after that turned towards to the new pawn. "Tatsumi, I heard you like to train, is that right?"

"Yes." The boy answered uncertainly, which was hardly heard by the rest.

"Then how about little special training?" The crimson-haired man stated.

"An special training?" Tatsumi curiously asked.

"In other words, would you like to train with me in a friendly match." Sirzechs replied, shocking everyone in the room, except for the woman next to him.

"Tatsumi having an special training with Sirzechs-sama?" Issei said surprised as not only his, but the rest of Rias`s peerage eyes widened, including the new devil in the household as well.

"Onii-sama, you are a satan lord. Please act like one." Rias softly scolded her brother.

"I can`t possibly accept such an hour and it`s not like I deserve it either." The former member of Night Raid politely refused the offer.

Death silence moved in the room after the boy`s sentence and he felt the weight of every single eye staring at him once more. Pressure started to take the better of him as the feeling of his nerves slowly giving in was more than clear and it became harder to fight it, even for someone like him, who was tough to not allow such things to happen.

"Hyoudou Tatsumi!" The silver-haired woman called out the boy, breaking up the silence. "It will be wise of you to accept Sirzechs-sama offer as I guarantee you won`t regret it. We already know that Riser Phenex` attacker is an acquaintance of yours, so let it aside and use this opportunity." She added.

"Grayfia, I didn`t say anything about that, so how do you know?" Rias asked the woman.

"It was not necessary for you to say anything." The leader of the 'Great Four Satans' replied back. "I asked Riser`s cute little sister to tell me about the attack on their household, so she did with adding the little scene at the end."

"You asked Ravel Phenex?" Akeno questioned surprised at the fact.

"Well, her brother didn`t want to discuss it with me, so I had to resort to the other trustful source of information." The crimson-haired man answered. "Besides, she seemed quite fond of the boy."

"She is fond of Tatsumi-kun?" Yuuto asked as if he couldn`t believe it.

The former assassin himself got stunned at the said by the satan lord and couldn`t believe it, but he still remained silent, thus hiding his true amazement. He looked at the man in front of him, who wore a smile on his face, yet it appeared to be really serious. It was then, the new devil decided to play along with the offer and have a fight with no just a random opponent, but Sirzechs Lucifer, one of the four satans that rule over the Underworld.

"Very well, I accept the offer." Tatsumi replied.

"I am glad to hear that." Sirzechs stated. "But it`s late for today, so we shall do it first thing tomorrow. Don`t worry about skipping lessons, as you may know by now, my and Rias`s father has deep relations with the academy`s director." The pure-blooded devil finished.

"That was rather unexpected." Xenovia whispered to her friends.

"Well, let`s look forward tomorrow`s training. I am quite curious to see how it will go." Kiba noted.

"…I think it`s quite obvious." Koneko said, while reaching for some sweets.

"Don`t you think that`s a bit rude towards Tatsumi-kun?" The blonde-haired knight asked playfully.

"We are talking about a satan lord here, it`s understandable." His fellow knight stated

"Will Tatsumi-san really be okay?" Asia asked with a worried voice

"We will find out that tomorrow for sure." Issei said next. "Although, I personally agree with Koneko-chan and Xenovia."

And so everyone sat in the club room and talked separated on two little groups as the first was formed of Rias, Grayfia and Sirzechs, while the second consisted of the rest. Shortly after that, Azazel arrived and joined with the devils of the Gremory real family, who asked Rias`s peerage to go outside, which they did almost at the second. Yuuto and Gasper excused themselves and headed back to the mansion in which they lived, leaving the living in the Hyoudou Residence to stay outside and wait for their master and the two guests. The crimson-haired man shared that he and his wife will spend the night at the Hyoudou`s house as well.

Around 19:00 p.m., the group of devils arrived at the house just in time for dinner, when Issei`s parents gladly accepted the guests as they continued to chat even after, while Rias and her servants went to the first pawn`s room. There everyone discussed random things, until it came time for going to bed, which they did one by one, leaving only the brown-haired boy in his room, who was shortly joined by Sirzechs, who had to sleep in the same room on as Grayfia shared one with the heiress of the Gremory family.

As about Tatsumi, he couldn`t sleep very well and went on the balcony to stare at the night sky, which this time was full of clouds, hiding the moon and the stars behind them. One more thing was different that night and that was, him being alone unlike when he had a company next to him. Around 02:00 a.m., he went back to bed and fell asleep immediately and didn`t wake up again in that night, in which he had a dream for the first time from about four days now. Sadly for the boy, it was a bad one and when he woke up in the morning, he found himself lying on the floor and thought that he must have fallen in his sleep.

Getting up, the former assassin realized that it was still 06:30 a.m. and everyone else were still asleep, so he quietly went to the bathroom, where he washed his face and fixed himself up. After that, the Hyoudou went to the kitchen and made a quick breakfast, which he calmly ate on the table. A hour later everyone were ready with their breakfast and prepared themselves for today`s big event, which was the fight between Tatsumi and Sirzechs. Rias told the rest that they can skip lessons too and come watch if they want as the group didn`t need a single moment to think about before agreeing.

In less than thirty minutes everyone were at the club`s backyard where the special training was going to held as the watchers lined next to the building`s wall in order to not get in the way. The two opponents stood at the opposite sides of the yard and prepared to fight. The former assassin wore his school uniform, while the clothing of the satan lord consisted of black T-shirt at the top and black trousers with white runners at the bottom part.

"Shall we begin?" Sirzechs asked the boy, who nodded with his head as silence moved in and the rest focused their attention at the center of yard.

Tatsumi took a quick look at the man and just like that the two dashed at each other, when after three seconds they were already close enough to exchange attacks. The brown-haired boy acted first and shot a quick punch with his right hand, aimed at the pure-blooded devil`s head, who reacted instantly and deflected with left hand and immediately counterattacked by aiming a punch in the pawn`s stomach using his other one. However, the younger opponent responded to that by blocking with his left hand as well, after which moved two steps back, spun clock-like and swung his right leg at Sirzechs. The man simply caught the boy`s leg with his right hand and after that pulled him by it and threatened to hit the newest member of the Rias`s peerage.

Seeing that, Tatsumi didn`t waste a second more and decided to counterattack by swinging his other leg, aiming at Lucifer`s head. The satan leaned backwards, thus avoiding the danger, while letting of the boy`s trapped leg, who made a loop in the air and just when he was about to land a blow, got hit in the stomach by the older opponent`s right leg. The impact of the hit sent the former assassin few meters until his body touched the ground and yet continued to move, heading for a tree behind him. Noticing the danger, Tatsumi used his hands to make a summersault at the last possible moment, stepping on the tree in the progress, which he later used to launch straight at the satan lord. Closing in, he aimed a left punch at the opponent`s head, but to no avail as Sirzechs ducked and caught the stretched hand, flipping the boy in the air, until his body met the ground.

The latter didn`t leave behind and decided to bet on the surprise attack and pushed himself between the older opponent`s legs, thus coming out behind him. Then he quickly stood up and clapped his hands together and aimed them down at Lucifer`s back. Unfortunately, this action of his was predicted as the man made a summersault backwards and while landing to the ground, swung his left leg, which ended up in the pawn`s head. The hit sent him crashing on the ground, but this time his body hammered like a nail.

"Not bad at all." The satan lord stated as he turned towards the lying boy.

"Sirzechs-sama is amazing." Issei noted from the side of the watchers.

"Onii-sama was the ace of the 'Anti-Satan Faction' that fought the 'Old Satan Faction', so it`s quite understandable." Rias explained with her hands crossed under her chest.

"Tatsumi-kun is standing up." Kiba warned them to pay attention.

The former member of Night Raid got up, coughed few times and looked at the opponent in front of him. He took a deep breath, judged the distance and just like that with a single jump he found himself before the pure-blooded devil, who remained surprised at first. Seeing that, the boy didn`t waste a second and shot his right leg at the satan`s right one and as a result from that, Sirzechs lost balance and reeled forward. Then, Tatsumi aimed a quick hit with his left knee in the opponent`s stomach, after which he grabbed one of his opponents` hands and using his body as support, flipped the man, copying his movement from earlier.

However, before he could rejoice, the older of the Gremorys counterattacked by aiming a fast and very powerful punch with his right hand straight in the boy`s stomach as well. As a result, the former assassin fell on his knees and started coughing, which gave the man enough time to act. Lucifer grabbed him for his shoulders and jumped up to the ground and then tossed the pawn over his head straight at a tree. For even worse luck for Tatsumi, was that he overturned around in the air and faced the unmoving object with his back just before making contact with it. When the impact was fact, the brown-haired boy felt his back bend like a bow as unbearable pain started overcoming his senses as he even coughed great amount of blood, after which he simply dragged down to the ground.

"Tatsumi!" Someone screamed from the crowd and that someone was no else, but the black-haired girl, Akeno.

"Now that`s got to hurt." Issei commented.

"It looks like the match is over." Grayfia stated. "That`s enough Sirzechs-sama." She added, but left ignored by her husband.

"Get up! Let`s fight more." The man said with serious voice, yet smiling as he went next to the boy and looked at him. "Prove me that you are worthy to be my sister`s servant."

"What do you mean by get up? Is that not enough?" Himejima shouted, who surprisingly enough for her, felt like another personality had replaced her usual one.

"Calm down, Akeno!" Rias replied back and put a hand on her shoulder.

Silence moved in the entire area as everyone waited to see what will happen or rather for the satan to put an end to this fight. Asia and Gasper couldn`t look and hid the faces in their palms, Rias, Xenovia, Koneko, Grayfia, Yuuto and Issei watched patiently, while her queen was the only one that hardly stopped herself from going to the wounded boy.

The lying on the ground boy felt his consciousness slipping away as his vision became blurry, stopping him to even get a clear look on the opponents feat that were right before his eyes. Just like that something echoed in his mind.

'_What are you doing, Tatsumi? You really are pathetic. Is that the same boy I fell in love with.'_ A voice echoed.

It was a familiar voice that he instantly recognized and defined it as Mine`s voice. The pink-haired girl that he fell in love back in his world, despite the endless mocking and bullying that she did to him.

'Mine!' He weakly said to himself.

'_Hurry up and stand up, Tatsumi! You can do it, just remember all the training you have been through.'_ Another voice ringed in his mind and this one belonged to Bulat. His 'Aniki' that helped him become stronger and looked after him as a carrying brother.

'_Show them how tough we Night Raiders are.'_ One more voice resounded in his ears, which belonged to the ever playful, Leone.

'_You are the man.'_ Next was Lubo`s, the green-haired boy of Night Raid.

'_Tatsumi, you can do it, you just have to believe in yourself.'_ This one was the voice of the clumsy, yet cheerful, lovable and caring, Sheele.

'_As long as you don`t give in, nothing is over.'_ Susanno`s voice echoed in his ears.

'_I leave my part to you, Tatsumi. So be sure to do your best.'_ He heard another voice calling him. This he recognized as Chelsea`s.

'Am I hearing things?' The boy questioned to himself. 'No, I am hearing what I want to hear, everyone`s voice.'

'_Live on and be proud of yourself.'_ Another one echoed in his mind, which he recognized as Najenda`s voice.

'_You are strong, Tatsumi! I believe in you.'_ Akame`s voice got through him.

'Everyone!' He said to himself and his eyes shot wide open. 'That`s right. I am a Night Raider. Even if I am somewhere else, I will still be proud of it and that I got to know all of you.'

In that time, everyone waited for four minutes now to see if the boy is going to stand up or not. His new family looked like they already accepted his defeat and just hoped to hear the end of the match.

"It appears everything is over." Sirzechs stated and turned around and decided to head back, but got stopped in his tracks.

"If you want to fight so much, then don`t show me your back." A voice ringed in the satan`s ears and he turned around.

However, instead of seeing the body of the lying on ground boy, he felt a hard hit in his stomach as the image of a standing Tatsumi jumped in front of him. The man reacted by backing of and aiming a quick punch in the opponent`s stomach as well, but got surprised when the former assassin deflected it with his left elbow and then used his right one to give Lucifer an uppercut, making him to back few steps. The pure-blooded devil recovered fast and shot his right hand in the form of a punch at the head of the brown-haired boy, but to no avail. Tatsumi simply ducked under in and then supporting himself with his hands made a clock-like circle with both of his legs together, tripping the man up as he lost balance and leaned backwards. Then the pawn jumped before the falling to the ground opponent and swung his right leg right into the target`s face, which resulted in Lucifer, flying a meter in the air, until his body found the grass.

"I don`t believe it." Issei shouted. "That guy did so much damage on a satan lord."

"Onii-sama has been pushed back?" Rias questioned equally stunned.

"That boy is strong. And I am sure that`s not everything he is capable of." Grayfia stated.

"Who would have thought he`d be that strong." Xenovia commented next.

"This is great." Sirzechs said while getting up on his legs. "It`s been a while since I felt this alive."

Just like that, the man dashed at the newest member of Rias`s peerage and started aiming a punch after punch, which as expected by him got deflected one by one. Then the latter spun around to the left side, avoiding couple more attacks in the progress and shot his right hand at the older opponent, who calmly caught it without any troubles. Tatsumi continued his assault as he used this chance and pulled Lucifer towards him and in instant shot his right leg at man`s head, who seeing the threat was forced to duck under it and used this opportunity to counterattack by landing a blow with left bow in the new devil`s chest.

The impact was strong enough to take him down with his condition, but the boy recovered fast and gave the crimson-haired man a head impact, which resulted in the pure-blooded devil backing a step and then aimed another punch for his opponent`s stomach. The latter decided to surprise the leader of the 'Great Four Satans' and by beating on this strength met up Sirzechs`s attack with a left fist of his own. The impact between the fists let out a sound that echoed through the entire yard as both devil`s hand became numb of the crashing contact. The two opponents backed about a meter each, took a deep breath and after a second dashed for another round. Almost at the needed distance, they prepared their hands, which were in a good shape and waited for the right moment to attack, but that didn`t come as Grayfia appeared in the middle and pointed a hand, one for each of them, giving a sign to stop, breaking their sprint in the progress.

"That`s enough of you two." The silver-haired woman stated. "Any more fighting will be not good for either of you.

"Finally, this match is over." Rias noted and let out a sign of relief

"They fought for quite some time." Kiba said and looked at his clock. "Over twenty minutes have passed since they started."

"Tatsumi-senpai did very well." Koneko commented

"Were you not for Sirzechs-sama?" Issei questioned his junior.

"…I knew it would be difficult for him to do something against such an opponent, but I never stopped believing he could." The rook explained.

Couple of meters in front of the watchers, Tatsumi and Sirzechs went next to each other after the match was forcefully ended by the satan`s wife. The two looked at each other as the older man had a big and honest smile on his face, while the former assassin still seemed quite serious.

"I am very impressed, Hyoudou Tatsumi." The Lord complimented. "It really has been a while since I fought someone and even got to taste the grass. You should take proud of that. I thank you for giving me such a good time." He added.

"No, I should be the one thanking. It was an honor to train with you." The pawn humbly replied, which made the man before him to slightly laugh.

"There`s no need for you to be so modest. You are a devil now, be more like one and want things." Lucifer stated and stretched his right hand forward. "Tatsumi, from this moment onwards, I ask you to please take care of Rias as a part of her peerage and not just my sister, but everyone else in this family."

"Thank you and I will!" The brown-haired boy thanked and took the satan`s hand, thus forming a handshake.

"Also can I call you Tatsumi-kun from now on." The man asked, breaking up the handshake.

"You can call me only Tatsumi, I don`t mind. In fact I prefer others referring to me that way." The boy replied back, making the satan put a wide smile on his face.

"Then, you can call me bro whenever we are speaking in a private matter." Sirzechs said, catching the brown-haired devil of guard and annoying his wife in the progress.

"Sirzechs-sama, please refrain from such phrases considering your position." Grayfia scolded her husband.

"That`s right, I can`t possibly accept." The newest member of the Gremory household politely refused. "Besides, there was a person that was like a brother to me, so I want him to remain the only one I can call as such. Allow me to stick with 'Sirzechs-sama' like the rest.

"Very well, I permit it. Then, the formality is done." The man stated.

"I also welcome you officially." The silver-haired woman added next. "Grayfia Lucifuge is the name. I am Sirzechs-sama wife."

"The pleasure is all my alone." The boy replied and slightly bowed.

"Now we should get going. It was fun and hope we can do it again sometime again." The man said and waved to the rest. "Until our next meeting." He added

Just like that, a red magical circle appeared from beneath them and they disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving Rias and her peerage behind. Everything and everyone went silent, which continued for two minutes when the former assassin lurched from where he was standing, but managed to regain his balance by hitting himself in the face with a fist, after which he sat down on the grass.

"What did he do that?" Issei asked in astonishment.

"…He is keeping his consciousness awake by causing pain to himself." Koneko explained. "It`s just like when someone wakes you forcefully in the morning." She added an example.

"Impressive." Xenovia commented.

"Tatsumi-san, are you alright?" Asia questioned the wounded boy, while running towards him.

"My back hurts like hell, but a part of that I am fine." The pawn answered back and cracked a small smile.

"Honestly, you both were reckless." Rias said, stopping few steps to his right. "But you managed to stand equal to Onii-sama. As your master, I can`t help but be proud of you."

"No, he would have won eventually as my back began to give in at the end." Tatsumi replied back.

"Of course he would. As if someone like you can win against Sirzechs-sama." The other pawn stated entering the group with the rest.

"Ise, don`t be so mean." Rias defended her newest servant.

"No, it`s okay. After all, this guy`s mocking is nothing compared to a certain pink-haired self proclaimed genius and her bullying." The former assassin said and smiled.

The boy tried to get up, only to fall on his butt again, showing he is going to have a hard time getting on his legs, which was noticed by the rest as Yuuto kneeled next to him and casted the new devil`s right hand over his neck, helping him to stand up. And so, the group turned and headed towards the club, while not stopping to talk on the way to the newest member of their family. While walking, Tatsumi lifted his head up and stared at the sky and his smile widened even more.

'Night Raid!' He said to himself. 'Thanks for making me the person I am today and for being by my side all this time. I have no regrets left and I won`t hesitate anymore.' Saying that, the boy took his eyes of the blue sky and returned them to place and those around him just as the group went inside the club house.

**And so another chapter of "Second Life" is done. Not much to say here, just that I used this chapter to help Tatsumi get over his troubles and let out the pressure with a special training with Sirzechs Lucifer, which I took as idea from the battle between Issei and Rias`s older brother in the light novel during the engagement ceremony between Ise and Rias at the Ruins of Connection. Also, I developed the TatsumixAkeno couple in this chapter, which was shown when Akeno tried to stop the fight, while Tatsumi was lying unmoving on the ground. **

**So, I guess this is it for now. I hope you liked the chapter and that you will remain satisfied while leaving this page. Feedbacks are welcomed, such as those regarding grammar mistakes, improvement of character`s style and etc.**

**Thank you for sparing time to read my work and if possible to comment on it. **

**Peace out! **


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter 8 – To love someone**_

The next day, Tatsumi woke up without any troubles, while wearing a smile on his face as this night was the first from five in which he had a dream, a good one in fact. It was like there was no sign of pressure and worries on him like till yesterday, which immediately left impression on the boy, who noticing it, showed his determination for a new start by clenched his right hand into a fist. The new devil fixed up as fast as he could and headed towards the bathroom in order to wash his face. Reaching it, he leaned an ear on it, knocked on the door and after not hearing a replay opened it slowly, until it was fully opened and just like that the view of a someone`s ass with black pants popped right before him. As if feeling his eyes, the person to whom it belonged slowly turned around, only to turn out that it was no one else, but the queen of the family, Akeno, who was currently putting on her bra.

"Oh my, I have been seen in the nude." Akeno said with a surprised voice.

"I am terribly sorry." The former assassin apologized as his cheeks became red and he closed the door in an instant.

"No, I am should be the one apologizing, since I didn`t reply when you knocked." The queen`s voice got through the door.

"Anyway, I am…" The brown-haired boy tried to excuse himself and walk away, but someone grabbed him for the left shoulder.

"…Tatsumi-senpai, I am very disappointed from you. To peek on a girl, while she is in the bathroom." A strict voice`s echoed in his ears, which he recognized without fail.

"Koneko, you get it all wrong. It was an accident." Tatsumi defended and grabbed her hand in order to remove it from his shoulder.

"That`s what Issei-senpai says every time he gets caught." The rook stated and tightened the grip.

"Well, I am not him, so believe me." The pawn replied back.

"Good Morning! What is all that commotion about?" A voice interrupted it, making them turn to the source, who appeared to be Rias.

"Good Moring!" The newest member of the family group greeted.

"Good Morning, President!" Koneko greeted the girl as well. "Tatsumi-senpai was peeking on someone."

"Like I said, I wasn`t peeking, it was just an accident." The boy defended again.

"You two should better get ready instead of arguing first thing in the morning." The pure-blooded devil stated and headed downstairs.

Half an hour later, the household arrived at the school for a new day of lessons and studying when Tatsumi, Issei, Asia and Xenovia were given extra homework right from the start of the first lesson for skipping school. The rest of the day in the academy continued hard for the devils as they had to make up for their absence yesterday, which was especially the case with Math, Politics and Alchemy. Even the sports teacher made them run double the usual distance in order to cover up the requirements and while the girls had an easy time running the track, the boy got worked to the bone. In the end, the pawns felt like their legs were going to fall apart, which mostly regarded for the former assassin as the pain from the match with Sirzechs was instigated deep inside him. That was so, because he kindly refused Asia`s healing treatment by saying that those wounds were made with an instructive purpose, thus they need to soak into his skin.

Currently, they were having their last lesson for the day, History, which was going quite smoothly, normally and interesting for the four. Today they were studying about the World War II and Japan`s role in it as they reached to the part when the USA dropped atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leaving literally nothing behind as it remained as a scar even nowadays. However, it wasn`t that what caught Tatsumi`s attention most, but that the Japanese didn`t lose their faith and fought to very end, even sacrificing themselves if it was needed. It couldn`t help, but bring the new devil back memories of the his world and how hard everyone tried to change the corruption as sacrifices were something usually seen. A certain case popped into his mind instantly, which was the one time he got caught by the Empire and Night Raid had to come to save him. In that rescue mission, both Mine and Susanno lost their lives just to save him and as a results the assassin group lost two members instead of one.

When the lesson ended, the teacher bit farewell to his students as they began packing and preparing to go home, making the atmosphere in the classroom like at important crossroad in a busy hour. The pawn decided to wait until the most of the people leave the room and then go regroup with Issei, Asia and Xenovia, who were waiting him outside in the hallway. After a minute, the classroom was completely empty and the boy got up from his seat and headed for the entrance, just to see his only his stepbrother waiting for him.

"Are you ready?" Issei asked the boy

"Yeah, let`s go." Tatsumi replied. "By the way, where did Asia and Xenovia go?"

"They said that they have something to do at home and will come to the club house later." The first pawn explained.

"Oh, I see. Well…" The former assassin tried to say something, but was cut off by someone`s voice.

Turning around, the boys saw their classmates, Matsuda and Motohama.

"Hey, you guys!" Ise greeted

"Tatsumi, you bastard! Already having girls going after you, huh?" Motohoma asked the new member of the Gremory family.

"What are you talking about?" The brown-haired boy answered the question with a question.

"Do not play dumb." Matsuda said by shouting. "Today a cute blonde-haired girl came in the classroom and asked if we knew where you were."

"An blonde-haired girl?" The two devils replied in a surprise.

"Yeah, she also had dark-blue eyes and wore a light purple dress." The boy with the glasses confirmed.

"That`s right." Their other classmate said. "You are like Issei, you got inside the Occult Research Club and now you are ssurrounded by beautiful girls."

"We can`t stand it and that`s why we want to hit something." Motohama stated.

And just like that he and Matsuda jumped threatening towards the former member of Night Raid and aimed a punch per person in his face, while the other Hyoudou remained still being able only to watch.

"Eat this!" Both Motohama and Matsuda shouted and attacked together.

However, Tatsumi simply ducked under the attack, grabbed their hands and using his body as a support, tossed them on the ground.

"Hey you four, what are you doing there?" A voice interrupted from behind, when two young women appeared next to them.

One of them had a slim figure, black hair styled in a short bob cut and violet eyes, and wore glasses. The second one had with long straight black that extends all the way down to her knees with split bangs and light brown eyes, with glasses as well. They both wore Kuoh Academy girls` school uniform

"Student Council President? Vice-President?" Issei said calmly, recognizing the two girls

"Fighting is strongly prohibited on school grounds." Sona explained "You are familiar with that, right, Hyoudou Tatsumi?" She added and turned to the former assassin.

"Yes, ma`am. I am sorry." The boy apologized and let his classmates` hands, after which he got up in a standing position.

"We hear a lot about you these days." The pure-blooded devil stated, while fixing up her glasses.

"I didn`t do anything special, though." Tatsumi replied and scratched the back of his head.

"Being modest, huh? Well, then have a good day." Sitri`s heiress said as the two girls passed by them, heading towards the stairs.

Shortly after that, both brown-haired boys bit farewell to Matsuda and Motohama, and headed themselves to the club house. In less than thirty minutes, arrived at the house and saw that only Kiba and Gasper were there as the knight read a book, while the bishop played on a Nintendo. Their fellow members greeted them and so they sat around the table in the hall and talked about random stuff.

Currently, Issei was at the kitchen, searching for something to eat in the fridge, hence he wasn`t able to have a proper lunch during the big break at school and the hunger began to get the better of him. Tatsumi, Yuuto and Gasper sat in the room and calmly awaited for him and the rest to arrive, while playing a game of chess. Valdi on the other hand, sat inside his box and looked like he was in a totally separated world.

Suddenly, Issei literally blasted the door and charged inside, shocking the three boys in the progress, forcing them to look at him with surprised faces, which said that they don`t know what` going on. Just like that, the pawn shot an insane stare at the newest member of the family and went next to him in less than a second.

"Tatsumi, my friend, why didn`t you tell me that you like peeking at girls, while they are in the bathroom." He said and put a hand on the boy`s right shoulder.

"W-What are you talking about?" The former assassin questioned, showing that he doesn`t have a single clue what`s happening.

"This morning you peeked at Akeno-san when she was at the bathroom, am I right?" Hyoudou asked with a sly smile on his face.

"I did not peek at her. I just wanted to wash my face, but Akeno was there before me." His stepbrother defended himself by shouting.

"Tatsumi-kun, since when you call Akeno-san just by her name?" Yuuto questioned the boy next in line.

"Now that you mention it, he really does call her that." Issei added. "You can`t do that. She`s a senior." He said and turned towards his stepbrother.

"What about it? I asked for permission if I can call her by name alone and she agreed." Tatsumi explained. "She calls me by my name as well."

"So that`s the case." Kiba noted, while ending his move. "Check."

The newest member of the family sighed in disappointment and leaned on the sofa, after which he looked at the chess board and the pieces on it.

"Checkmate, huh?" The brown-haired boy said and sighed again.

"So anyways, how was she when you saw her at the bathroom?" Issei spoke up, bringing up the topic from a minute ago again, which slightly caught the other pawn off guard.

"Well, I did not see much before I closed the door, so..." Tatsumi answered.

"You are not being honest." Hyoudou whispered in a disappointment, but loudly enough to be heard.

"Shut…" The former member of Night Raid tried to put an end to the topic, but the sound of the main door slowly opening, echoed in his ears and he got the feeling as if someone was spying on them.

However, instead of saying something, the boy went to the door and pulled it wide open, revealing the view of a girl falling on the ground, popped before his eyes. After taking a full look on her, the newest addiction of Rias`s peerage thought he had seen this girl somewhere before. She had a blonde hair, dark blue eyes and wore a light purple dress.

"Hey, isn`t that Riser`s little sister?" Issei questioned what was on everyone`s mind.

"How rude?!" Ravel replied with a sign of being offended, while getting up on her legs. "Can you address more formally with someone, who you are barely acquainted with."

"Can we help you with something?" Yuuto politely asked.

"In fact, yes you can." She shot a short answer. "Is Rias Gremory here? I like to thank her for saving us that day."

"The President isn`t here yet, but I think she will arrive soon." Tatsumi explained.

"I see. Then, I shall move to the second matter at hand." The bishop said and just like that bowed before the former assassin. "Thank you for saving me individually from that wolf. As gratitude, I, Ravel Phenex, will do anything you to make up for it."

"There`s no need to go that far." The second pawn replied back.

"But you are my savior and I must thank you properly." Ravel insisted.

"Tatsumi-senpai saved her life?" Gasper questioned from inside the box.

"Anyways, I can`t accept such an offer." The pawn politely refused. "Just an simple thanks would do the job."

"That can`t do." The pure-blooded devil said with an insisting tone to her voice. "Then, at least say something that you desire."

"Like I…" The brown-haired boy tried to refuse again, but was cut off as few figures appeared behind the blonde girl, distracting him in the progress.

"Sorry for the wait." Xenovia said, while walking, until she bumped at Riser`s bishop.

"Ravel?" Rias questioned in surprise tone from behind her knight. "What are you doing here?"

The youngest child of the Phenex family moved aside, so that the rest can enter the room and in less than a minute everyone was in the hall, waiting for what their guest had to say, or at least to add, having said one of the two reasons. Rias sat on her chair, while rest found a place to seat on. The crimson-haired woman nodded to the visitor that she is ready to listen.

"I came here with two reasons. The first, is that I want to thank you everyone for saving me, my brother and my friends." The bishop explained.

"You didn`t need to do that, since it was an order from my brother, I couldn`t refuse." The heiress of the Gremory family said and shot a quick smile at the guest.

"What about the second reason?" Akeno asked curiously.

"It`s to express Tatsumi her gratitude for saving her life." Issei answered instead with a hint of envy to his voice. "She already said that earlier."

Hearing that, the female part of the household immediately turned towards the said boy with surprised eyes. Silence moved in the entire room, which lasted about a minute or so.

"…Tatsumi-senpai, did you something dirty to this girl?" Koneko questioned her fellow devil.

"I did not do anything dirty. Besides, how did you come to this conclusion?" The pawn defended.

"…Well, it does not matter as long as you are certain in what you say." The rook avoided the question.

'I don`t understand that girl.' Tatsumi noted in his mind.

"Anyways, we are grateful for your gratitude, but I assure you that we were glad to help." Rias spoke up, returning to the topic at hand. "Is that all?" She finished with a question that was directed at her guest.

"Actually, no, due to the recent events I decided to live in the human world from now on." Ravel explained.

"You want to live here?" Asia asked the pure-blooded devil.

"That`s right. And since I don`t have any place where I can stay at, the thought of asking you if I can live in Hyoudou Issei`s house came to my mind." The bishop explained. "So can I?"

"You want to stay at my house?" Issei questioned as if he was unsure if he heard right or not.

"Well, I don`t see a problem with that, but what about your brother?" The crimson-haired girl asked next.

"Nii-sama told me to do whatever I want, since he only cares about Yubelluna-san right now. So I decided to leave his peerage and come live here instead." The young Phenex answered calmly.

"Very well, I shall find you a place. Come to think about it, there is still one more room that is free, so I am sure you can use it." Rias said and sighed.

The rest of the day went quite normal for the group as nothing too special happen, until they got home, where Issei` and Tatsumi`s parents got surprised to see another girl coming to live under the same roof, but quickly forgot about it and let things go as they want. After dinner, the devils gathered in Rias room, in which they talked about various things all the way till midnight, when everyone decided to go to bed.

In about ten minutes, the house was absolutely quiet as all the lights were switched off and everyone went to bed, letting deep silence to move in the atmosphere. Added with a clear sky and weather, not even a single sound was heard in a perimeter of around twenty meters at each direction. The moon was shining with all its might, making it as if it was a picture in some kind of exhibition in an museum, that waited to be seen by a thousand of visitors every day.

Somewhere around 02:00 p.m., Tatsumi woke up from having some kind of dream. The boy flipped few times with the hope to fall asleep again, but due to no avail, after which he went to the bathroom, washed his face and left it, going towards his room again. Just before opening the door, the former assassin spotted a figure standing on the balcony and looking at the sky. The figure of someone he didn`t fail to recognize to belong to the black-haired queen of the Gremory householf. He changed his direction and headed straight at the place with slow steps, until he reached the door that lead to the balcony and slowly opened it. Entering the area, the boy finally saw the girl from up close. She wore the same night-gown she had on her the last time, her hair was also let like then, without any ribbons holding it. Just like that his cheeks got red as memories of that night flowed into his mind, forcing him to regain his calm by slapping them.

"Could not sleep, huh?" The pawn questioned as he walked next to her, catching the girl off guard.

"Tatsumi either?" She answered by asking on her turn.

"Yeah, I had a strange dream." Hyoudou replied.

Suddenly, a cold wind started blowing strongly, sending chills to the two devils, mostly to the girl, who immediately wrapped her hands around herself in order to warm up. That didn`t remain unnoticed by the boy as he showed it by taking off his T-shirt and gave it to his senior, who thanked with a smile.

"Want to come to my room, since it`s closer to the balcony?" Tatsumi asked, which at first shocked Akeno, but in a second she smiled and nodded with her head.

After two minutes, the two were inside the boy`s room as they found themselves comfortable on the opposite sides of his bed. The moonlight was coming straight from the window and shined on the floor, reflecting their shadows in the progress. Silence was once again controlling the mood, until the black-haired girl turned towards the boy and spoke up.

"Tatsumi, you sure are getting popular fast." She said, recalling the sudden visit of Ravel Phenex.

"You think so?" The boy replied with a question.

"Yeah, I am pretty confident about that." Akeno answered. "You earned not only Ravel Phenex, but Sirzechs-sama attention and what you did on Thursday against him was amazing. Rias is also very proud of you as your master."

"Nah, I still have on what to improve." The pawn humbly stated and scratched the back of his head.

"But you did much more than that." The queen said with a playful tone to her voice as she hugged him out of the blue and after that dragged both her and him down on the bed. "Say, do you know why I couldn`t sleep this night so far?" She questioned in his right ear.

"N-No!" He replied back with an unsure voice.

However, instead of answer with words, the former assassin received a lick on his left cheek by the girl as he shot a quick look at the latter, only to see her wearing a naughty, playful expression on her face with lust filled eyes. It was then, he fell something soft touching his body and more precisely the area around his chest, and to his surprise it turned nothing else, but the girl`s breasts, which were popped out of her night-gown.

"I still clearly remember that night, when you said such wonderful words about me. Not to mention that kiss." Himejima stated. "For some reasons, I can`t stop being excited whenever I am around you."

"Akeno?" The boy questioned with a wondered face.

"Hey, Tatsumi, have you ever loved someone before?" She answered to the question with one on her turn as well.

The question caught him off guard as memories of certain pink-haired girl came out in his mind. The same girl that he used to not get along at first place, but in time both he and the latter opened to each other, but sadly they couldn`t reach into something deeper as she died in his arms, after going on all out mission to save him from being executed. He remembered her name and wouldn`t forget it no matter how much it passed or where he was, Mine.

"Yeah, I had." He finally answered. "And I think she loved me too, but unfortunately nothing happened, because she died in the progress of the struggle against the Empire."

"So she was a part of the same group as you?" The girl asked.

"That`s right. At first we didn`t get along much, but later on I fell head-over-heels for her, although I guess I didn`t realized it back then." Tatsumi explained calmly, but with a hint of regret. "Well, there is Esdeath two, but she is just blindly in love with me. I never really thought of making a relationship with her, mostly because we were enemies after all."

"You really appear to be a lady killer, don`t you?" Akeno teased by touching his chin.

"I have been often told that." The brown-haired devil replied back and cracked a smirk.

Silence moved once again as the girl dragged down, leaning her head on his chest, while the former assassin just stared at the other devil and tried to stay calm and come up with a solution on what to do.

"Say, Tatsumi, do you like me?" The queen questioned, catching the boy off guard that his eyes widened like someone was pulling his eyelids forcefully.

"I-I do. I mean you are really beautiful, smart, kind and carrying person that everyone would fall for you." He replied back. "But, I am not sure how to act on these feelings of mine or how to express them, since I never thought about such things before."

"I can teach you then, if you are okay with me." The Vice-President of the Occult Research Club said.

Just like that, she grabbed his right hand, moved it in front of her face and suddenly, but slowly started sucking on his fingers, starting from the boy`s forefinger and ending with his puppy finger. Strange feeling began to overcome Tatsumi`s senses as the other member of the family continued doing this action couple of times, after which she did the same to his left hand as well. Slight moan escaped his lips, but it was loudly enough to be heard by the girl in front of his eyes. After a minute she stopped and smiled at him.

"Are you okay with me?" Akeno asked, moving up, until her face ended up right above his.

"Yeah, I am." He answered after a second of thinking.

Hearing those words, the black-haired girl launched her head forward without a warning and just like that kissed the boy as fiercely as she could. The latter on the other hand remained unmoving, while getting with the feeling of her tongue dancing with his, casting it over from the right to left and other way around. His body got hot all of a sudden as his mind slowly gave into the temptation and let the body to join in the action. Their tongues wrapped with each other, their lips locked the space between them completely and the girl fully pushed the boy on the bed and dived deeper in his mouth, exploring the back of his throat. Next, she grabbed his right hand and placed it between her breasts, which was instantly noticed by him, but he left the Akeno take control and went along with her actions.

No words were spoken, only the action of the two figures was the one thing that ruled over the mood of the night and it didn`t seem like it wasn`t go end anytime soon. Suddenly, the black-haired devil moved his right hand onto the one place between her legs as he felt like he was touching something wet, at which touch, Himejima moaned straight in his mouth and backed her head, breaking up the kiss, while leaving a solid trace of saliva that connected to each of their tongues. Both of them started breathing heavily for about two minutes and just stared at each other, without doing anything else as the queen had a naughty expression on her face, which showed that she wanted more.

Akeno decided to take things even further and took off her night-gown, revealing her full naked body to the pawn, who couldn`t move his eyes from the beautiful view that jumped out before him. And again, they locked their lips, forming another passionate kiss, including their tongues as well, continuing this for a couple of minutes, until they both backed off and just remained lying on the bed. It wasn`t long before the two fell the need for sleep taking over them and slowly plunged into the world of dreams, wrapped in each other`s hands, wearing smiles on their faces.

The morning came and the two devils woke up when a loud sound echoed in their ears and the first thing they saw was Issei with wide opened mouth, unmoving and standing right at the room`s entrance.

"W-What the…?" The teen asked, but stopped at the middle.

"What`s wrong, Ise?" Rias`s voice spoke up next as the pure-blooded devil went next to her servant, only to see the view of fully naked, Akeno and half naked, Tatsumi right in front of her.

"Oh my, they saw us." Himejima said and giggled.

"G-Good Morning!" Tatsumi greeted his friends.

"Akeno, what did happen here?" The crimson-haired girl asked her friend.

"It`s just what you see, Prez." The queen answered.

"Does that mean that Tatsumi did Akeno-san?" Hyoudou shouted.

"I did not do her." The former assassin roared back. "Seriously, what`s with your imagination?"

"Hey, Hyoudou Issei, can you speak a bit more quiet. There are those who are still trying to sleep." Ravel spoke up from her room.

"So you got to him before her, huh?" Rias whispered and turned around. "Come on, Ise. It`s breakfast time."

"I am coming!" Issei replied and followed the heiress of the Gremory family, leaving Akeno and Tatsumi alone in the room.

"So they found out." The boy stated what was obvious.

"Well, it`s better that way." The black-haired girl stated, while putting on her cloths.

Tatsumi didn`t say anything, just smirked, got up and began dressing up as well. In a minute, they were ready to go downstairs and have a breakfast and start this new day with high lifted heads.

"See you downstairs." Akeno said and kissed the boy on the left cheek and slowly left the room, with a walk that showed her good mood, which was confirmed with a wide smile on her face.

'I did something unbelievable for me.' The pawn noted in his mind. 'However, I feel like falling head-over-heels for this girl. Just like with _'her'_.' He added and headed towards the room`s exit. 'I hope you are having a peaceful afterlife, Mine.' The boy finished and left the room.

**And so, chapter 8 "Forgotten feelings" is done. A chapter full of comedy moments as well with a little naughtier scene at the end. Well, I don`t have much to say about this chapter, what was most hitting on the eyes, I`m sure you have noticed if you are reading this. So yeah, I`m finally announcing the TatsumixAkeno pairing, which means that Akeno will be Tatsumi`s girl in the fanfic, although I may make as Xenovia or my third choice will still try to end up with him. So yeah, third choice is Ravel Phenex as I fixed up a little and instead of falling for Issei, I made her fall for Rias second pawn.**

**More characters are to make their appearance in the future chapters, as another great battle draws near. I will let you use your imagination on that part. xP **

**Well, I think that`s all to I wanted to say for now. Thanks for spearing some of your time to read my work. Feedbacks are deeply appreciated, but please let them be constructive, like such that could help me improve on my grammar, characters style, knowledge on the source material and such. **

**I hope you liked the chapter and that you will remain enjoyed after you leave this page. : )**

**Peace out! **

**~Kris! **


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 9 – Trouble at school (part 1)**_

The rest of the weekend went normally for Tatsumi and the rest, but the news that the former assassin and Akeno slept together didn`t remain untold and eventually even Azazel, who was passing by heard them. However, the man seemed quite happier than the rest for some unknown to Tatsumi reason, which puzzled him at first, until he forgot about it and let it slide aside. The female part of the family was mostly interested in what happened and how did they end up like that as Rias and the girls took Akeno on a girly talk when they discussed it fully, forcing the black-haired girl to spill it up. Himejima didn`t refuse and told her friends that everything as how it all began the next night after the mission to eliminate the stray devils, where the stray exorcist, Freed Sellzen, met his death at the hands of Gremory`s second pawn. The boys on other hand didn`t make such big deal out of it, except for Issei, who occasionally asked his stepbrother how was Himejima in the bed. The couple itself slept two more times together, but without doing more than that, except for the fact that the sadistic woman used Hyoudou as a pillow through the nights.

And so it came Monday, the start of the third week since the green-eyed teen came into this world. It was a sunny day as there wasn`t a single cloud in the blue sky, just the shinny yellow ball, that lighted and quickly lifted the temperature pretty hight, even for the beginning of May. The morning passed really fast and just like that, the devils found themselves in school for another day of studying and meeting up with friends.

As wake up lessons, the former assassin and his classmates had Art, where they were forced to draw a design for house and it`s interior, which was giving Tatsumi some hard time. The class ended as the teacher gave homework, making everyone to draw a sketch of their own house and the interior inside, earning himself angered glares from the students, especially the male part. Next in schedule was Chemistry, followed by more Chemistry, when it finally came time for something enjoyable by the most of the students, Sports. After the sports, the devils had a shower and went back to their classroom, waiting for the next lesson.

Currently, the second pawn was sitting on his seat and talked to his stepbrother, while both waited for the bell to ring, wearing gloomy expressions on their faces. Silence was ruling in the room as there were few more students except them and no one talked much and wore the exact same looks. For it had a very good reason for that as next was nothing else, but Math, the subject that frightened most of the students not only in this class, but in the entire academy. However, today was one of those more frightening days, because according to what the teacher said last week, they were going to have a test, since today was the last day before an incoming nation1al holiday.

"Hey, you guys, did you study for the test?" A voice interrupted their conversation, as they turned to the source, just to see the other two members of the 'Perverted Trio'.

"We did, more or less." Issei muttered under his nose, but enough to be heard.

"Don`t you mean that I studied?" The former assassin interrupted in. "You spent your time over my head."

"Shut up. I was just too surprised that you and Akeno-san slept together." The brown-haired teen replied back.

"W-What?" Both Matsuda and Motohama shouted at the same time.

"What about it? You sleep with the President and Asia almost every night." Tatsumi defended, ignoring their friends` astonishment.

"Issei sleeps with Rias-senpai and Asia-chan, while Tatsumi does the same with Akeno-senpai? What the hell?" Matsuda asked with a higher voice and grabbed his head with both hands.

"You bastards!" The black-haired boy screamed with a higher tone to his voice. "It`s was only Issei until recently, but now the both of you are being surrounded and treated by beautiful girls everywhere you go."

"That`s right. It`s just not fair." The other boy complained and tried to hit Issei in the face with punch, but his attempt was stopped as the other brown-haired boy caught the fists with hand just before it found its target.

"You have yourselves to complain to, not to us." The second pawn replied with a rude voice. "Try understanding girls more, instead of just thinking lewd things all the time."

His stepbrother on the other hand remained silent and stared at the stopped fist, which was aimed straight at his face. It was that moment the bell rang and the teacher entered the classroom, heading for the desk next to the windows. The boys gave each other one final look before breaking up the mood between them and preparing themselves for the lesson. And so, the teacher took out a big pile of papers and started walking the students, giving each a paper, which was nothing else, but the test itself. After finishing, the man returned to the desk and marked the start of the test.

When the lesson ended, the teacher asked everyone to hand their tests over to him, putted them back in his back and left the room, leaving the students to enjoy the big break and use it to rest as best as they could. The devil group split into two as the Xenovia and Asia decided to go and eat outside on some fresh air, while the two brothers went to the dinning-room in order to see if there is something good to eat, but to no avail as they found the room full without a single place to seat on. Unsatisfied, they went back to the classroom, but didn`t talk much, rather they spent time alone. Tatsumi stared out of the window in the blue, clear sky and seemed lost in thought, in the meantime of which, Issei used the opportunity to take a quick sleep until the next lesson.

Suddenly, the green-eyed teen felt the need to go to the bathroom and got up from his seat and slowly left the room, heading for the destination. Reaching the bathroom`s entrance, the boy saw his blue-haired classmate and fellow devil, coming out of the female part of the place, when they crossed each other`s paths.

"I am sorry." The former member of Night Raid apologized and moved aside, making a space for the girl.

"No, it`s nothing." Xenovia replied, while washing her hands. "By the way, did you know that today we won`t have club activities?" She added.

"Is that so?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. The President said that she and Akeno-san have an important meeting with the school`s Student Council`s President and the Vice-President." Quarta explained. "So she said, that we can go straight at home after classes."

"Well, that`s good. I`m actually quite tired today." The former assassin stated and stretched up his hands above his head.

"Hey, Tatsumi, will you listen to me?" The blue-haired girl asked as her face became cold serious.

"What is it?" He replied with a triggered attention.

"I was thinking quite a bit, but after watching you defeat Freed Sellezen, the wolf we fought recently and the match between you and Sirzechs-sama, I thought you could be a splendid candidate for a father of my child." The knight said as the pawn`s eyes widened at the second.

"What are you talking about?" The boy shouted in surprise and jumped back, until his back reached the wall.

"After becoming a devil, I got a new dream, where I want to give birth to a child. If it`s possible I want it to have strong genes such as yours." She said and pushed herself forward to him. "At first, I thought that the father of my kid would be Issei, because of his Sacred Gear and high talent potential."

'And again Issei is the focus.' Tatsumi thought to himself. 'Lubo would go through the deepest parts of hell, just to be on his place.'

"Tatsumi?" The girl`s voice brought him back to reality.

"In any case, that`s too sudden. Besides, I and Akeno…" He tried to say something, but stopped middle way and looked at the front door of the bathroom.

"What`s wrong?" Xenovia asked, after taking a look at his expression.

"Just now, I sensed a killing intend." The green-eyed teen answered and after gently pushing the blue-haired knight back, blasted through the door.

At that moment, the image of a girl appeared before his eyes, as she backed from the shock and ran away. A second later, Quarta came out of the bathroom and looked at the boy again.

"A killing intend, you say?" She questioned, waiting him to confirm it, which he did by giving a nod with his head.

Suddenly, a cold and dark feeling ran through their bodies, alarming them of something, just as everything became deadly quiet. Worried, the former assassin sneaked to the nearest window and took a look out of it, which showed a view right to the main entrance of the academy. The sky from light-blue now was a dark one, hiding the sun completely, giving the feeling of when an eclipse occurred. Moving his eyes down, he saw lots of what appeared to be hooded figures in the front yard, while the present students looked like they were frozen in time.

"What is this?" The brown-haired boy asked in a whisper.

"It appears to be a barrier." The girl stated as she went next to him. "And those figures down there must be stray magicians."

'So this world had magicians too.' The wielder of Incursio thought to himself. "So it was they, who casted the barrier?" He questioned, trying to follow what she just told him.

"No, that barrier is made by a fallen angel without doubt." She answered directly.

"Hey, you two!" A voice interrupted them from their right.

As they turning that direction, the devils saw their fellow brown-haired devil from the Gremory family, running straight at them, while taking deep breaths nonstop.

"Did you sense it as well?" The Red Dragon Emperor asked.

"Yeah, we did." Tatsumi replied.

"A fallen angel casted a barrier on the entire school as it seems." Xenovia explained. "Which means, it`s a bad sign."

"But the Three Factors signed a truce between each other at that meeting, didn`t they? So why are they…?" Issei questioned with a puzzled face.

"You forget that not all Fallen Angels want peace. Take Kokabiel for example." Quarta said, catching the latter in a surprise.

"So what are we going to do?" Issei asked again. "I tried calling the President, but my call won`t go through."

"It must be due to the barrier." The blue-haired girl guessed. "For now we must find the rest as soon as..." She tried to suggest something, but got interrupted by a loud scream.

The voice echoed through the area as the three devils immediately recognized to whom it belonged without a fail. They went next to the nearest corner and looked carefully, showing a bit from their heads. It was at that moment, a group of two hooded figures appeared from the opposite corner, but what left most impression on Rias` servants was that one of them held someone for the neck and that was no one other than their fellow female bishop, Asia.

"Another scream from you and I will kill you." One of them said.

"Those low class devils are so annoying. It makes me want to vomit." The other one added. "Hey, you devil, tell us where are the rest of you."

On the other side, Gremory` devils watched with wide opened eyes as Tatsumi and Xenovia tried to come out with a solution, while Issei was about to lose his cool as he had his both hands clenched in fists.

"Hey, you, spill it up." The voice of one of the hooded figures ringed in their years. "Otherwise, we will dispose of you." The person said and pushed Argento on the ground.

"That`s it." The Red Dragon Emperor shouted and jumped from behind the corner.

"Wait, Issei…" Quarta tried to stop him.

However, the boy was already a meter ahead, running towards the enemies with a rage, filled face. Anger took control over him and he forgot to think about the outcome of the situation. What mattered to him now was defeating the hooded figures and rescuing his friend.

"You bastards, let Asia go!" Hyoudou shouted, as his voice echoed through the entire passage way.

"Here`s an another one." One of the opponents stated. "Trying to save your friend? How foolish can you devils get?"

"Shut up. I will…" Issei tried to threaten them, but felt someone pushing him from behind.

The boy leaned forward due to the push, when Tatsumi appeared from behind and used the back of his friend to jump high in the air, while already holding his sword in his right hand. The enemies noticed the devil and tried to aim at him, but were a bit too slow. The former assassin threw his sword like a spear straight into the chest of one of the hooded figures as the body simply fell on the ground. After that, the green-eyed teen flipped in the air, just in time before reaching the ceiling, which he used to launch himself forward.

"Why, you…" The other opponent cursed and fired a magical ball of light.

Unfortunately for the hooded figure, that action of his was too slow as at the time of the attack, the pawn already landed on the floor, pulled out his sword from the dead body and spun around, swinging Incursio`s key right at the enemy`s neck, cutting his head and ending the battle in the progress. Blood escaped the dead body, splashing on his face and cloths, after which the body dragged down on the ground as the blood started forming a big puddle.

"Are you alright?" The boy asked his blonde-haired friend, who had her hands in front of her mouth from the shock of what she just saw. The view of blood flowing on the floor really scared her, even thought it belonged to the enemy.

"Asia!" Xenovia shouted, running next to the devils.

"Tatsumi-san, you killed them." She whispered weakly while hiccoughing.

"I had no other choice." The said boy defended.

"What`s with you?" First, you stop my sprint and then you went ahead and scared Asia with your actions." Issei interrupted from behind. "Are you an idiot?"

"The idiot here is you. You ran straight at the enemy without thinking. It was clear that they waited for you to go wild. Not to mention, that this action of yours could have worsened the situation." Tatsumi coldly scolded his stepbrother. "What it would happen if you or Asia died here?"

"But still, to kill them. Was it not too much?" The latter replied back.

"It was us or them. When it comes to that, this shouldn`t be questioned." The former member of Night Raid explained. 'Honestly, I am starting to understand how Bro felt when I was causing him the same problems.' He added in his mind.

"That`s enough, you two." Xenovia spoke up, breaking the argument. "What matters is that we are alright."

"So what are we going to do now?" Issei questioned

Silence moved in the area as no one dared to speak or do anything, just sat or stood unmoving, while being lost in thought. It was in that moment, Tatsumi`s eyes stopped on the dead bodies of the hooded figures and a smile grew on his face, which was instantly noticed by the rest.

"What is it?" The other pawn asked, but didn`t received an answer.

'Being strong isn`t the only thing needed to survive, huh? Is that not right, Chelsea?' The green-eyed teen said to himself and kneeled down to the body of the first enemy he killed.

His friends watched with wonder, trying to figure out what he wants to do, when the latter pulled out the cloak of the dead magician and threw it to his stepbrother.

"Here, take this." The boy said and turned towards the other male.

"Why?" Hyoudou questioned with a puzzled look on his face.

"Use this to escape from the barrier without being noticed. Then you should go and tell everything to the President." Tatsumi explained.

"I see. That makes sense." The knight supported her friend`s suggestion.

"In that time, I and Xenovia will search for the others, while dealing with the enemies that we encounter. Asia, you find a place to hide and don`t leave it until we come for you." The pawn added and turned towards the blonde-haired girl.

"You got it!" Issei nodded in agreement.

And so, they split up and went separated directions as the former assassin and Quarta headed to look for their friends, while Asia went to find to find a safe place in which she can hide, leaving Issei with the task of informing Rias and Akeno for what`s happing.

Meantime, Koneko, Gasper and their new classmate, Ravel, tried to remain unnoticed by the invaders, while hiding in the gym`s rest room. Valdi sat in the furthest corner of the premise, Phenex sat on a bed and showed sign of being bored and Toujou just stood silent, leaning on the wall next to the entrance and did nothing. Silence was ruling over the place as the three didn`t exchanged much sentences between them, which was suggest or rather imposed by Gremory` rook.

"This is so boring. If my brother was here, he would finish the enemy without any difficulties and we wouldn`t have the need to hide like that." The blonde-haired girl spoke up.

"…We must wait for a while until the magicians go somewhere else." Koneko stated calmly. "After that, we are going to look for the others."

"Where`s Rias? She could help a lot." Phenex`s bishop said and let a sigh of a boredom.

"President Rias said that she had some work at the shrine at the edge of the city." The vampire replied back. "Akeno-senpai went with her, so the only ones here besides us, are Issei-senpai, Kiba-senpai, Xenovia-senpai, Tatsumi-senpai and Asia-senpai."

"Then, what`s taking so long?" Ravel questioned, getting nervous. "Hyoudou Issei is the Red Dragon Emperor, isn`t he? Such low class magicians should be no problem for him and his Boosted Gear."

"…I am sure Issei-senpai and the rest are doing their best to get us from this situation." The white-haired girl said, when a cold feeling ran through her body. "We have to get out of here."

The girl said and went next to Gasper and picked him and rudely grabbed Riser`s sister for her shoulder and ran through the door, entering the gym all the way to the middle of it.

"Hey, be more gentle if you…" Ravel tried to scold the rook for her sudden action, but got interrupted as the roof broke up and spear of light came down on them.

Fortunately, Toujou reacted in time and jumped to the right, while holding for the two bishops, thus avoiding the attack in the progress.

"Found you at last." A voice came from the hole in the ceiling as a dark figure with huge black wings appeared from it and landed right beneath it.

"I knew it, it`s a fallen angel that`s behind this." Koneko said and dropped her friends on the ground.

"That`s right." The enemy replied.

It was a girl around the age of Issei and Tatsumi, with long black hair and violet eyes. She wore a dark tight trenchcoat-like top with a wide collar, a matching miniskirt, and black heeled shoes. The trenchcoat top was open at her chest, giving view to her cleavage.

"You are not exactly who I was looking for, but you will do for a start." The woman stated and broke into laugher.

"This one is pretty weird." The member of the Phenex family commented, catching the latter`s attention.

Just like that, the door that lead outside got blew away in pieces as another figure appeared from the smoke, who stopped as soon the devils were visible.

"If it isn`t the sister of that weak devil I fought recently." The figure said and smirked.

"You are that woman that attacked us." Ravel stated. "What are you doing here?"

"That aside, if you are that man`s sister, then it means that you have the same healing abilities. Just how much that will save you if I torture you to death." The woman said and pulled out a sword, preparing for battle.

Seeing this, Koneko acted immediately and grabbed the bishops, and using all her strength threw them through the hall, from which the Fallen Angel came.

"Ravel-san, please take care of Ga-kun." She shouted at her friends.

"What?" Riser`s sister tried to question the rook`s action, but was already on the other side. Seeing that it was useless to argue, she decided to simply follow and grabbed tightly the boy, after which two wings of fire appeared and she began to fly in the air.

"You are not getting away." The Fallen Angel said and flew through the same hole, leaving Koneko and the other enemy in the gym.

"You just lost the last piece of…" The woman tried to comment, but suddenly the sound of incoming attack ringed in her ears.

She made a summersault in the air, just before a long blue sword crashed in the ground and the picture of a blue-haired girl pumped in front of her eyes. Without wasting any time the opponent counterattacked by aiming her sword down on the girl, but the latter was quickly enough to jump forward all the way to Rias` rook.

"Nice reaction." The woman complimented. "This will be fun after all."

"Xenovia-senpai." Koneko said, while watching the said devil getting up on her legs.

"Now when I think about it, you both were at that mansion we attacked." The woman spoke up, catching their attention.

"Esdeath, was it?" The female knight guessed after taking a look at the opponent.

"So you know my name?" The former general stated and prepared to fight. "Entertain me if you can."

In the meanwhile, Issei using the cloak of the killed magician managed to sneak out from the barrier unnoticed by the enemy, just as his stepbrother said and now he ran towards the shrine where he first met Michael, the leader of the Angels and where now Rias and Akeno were having a meeting with Sona and Tsubaki to discuss some important matter. He tried to call the crimson-haired girl, but to his bad luck, the battery of the mobile phone went down as soon as he tried to make a call.

Right now, he was passing by a fountain in a park. The same fountain, when he was almost killed by Yuuma Amano, also known as the Fallen Angel, Raynare, who targeted him because of his Sacred Gear. Here, seconds later, Rias reincarnated him as a devil. All that made this place quiet with a important matter for the brown-haired boy. He was also informed that, Tatsumi became a servant of the heiress of the Gremory clan here as well, after being attacked by the stray exorcist, Freed Sellzen.

All of a sudden, the figure of a man appeared in the distance. He had black, short hair, brown eyes and wore a black, leather jacket, which was unbuttoned with a black shirt under it, blue jeans and black shoes. He was around the same height as Azazel and looked like he was in his thirties. Just like that a pair of two black wings with feathers appeared on his back. Upon that, the cloud turned the exactly the same as the one at school.

"He is a fallen angel?" Issei shouted in astonishment.

"Partner, watch out!" The pawn`s left hand spoke up.

Hyoudou looked forward, just to see the man creating a blue spear of light in his right hand, after which he threw it at the boy, who fortunately managed to roll to the left, thus avoiding the danger.

"So that guy is with those, who don`t agree with the whole peace thing." The devil whispered, but enough to be heard.

"That`s right. I too, like Kokabiel-sama, think our race is the strongest among the Three Factors." The man replied and raised himself in the air. "I don`t know how you got out of that barrier, but this is as far as you will go."

After saying that, the opponent created another spear of light and threw it at the teen, but just witnessed how his attack was dodged once more. That angered him and he started throwing a spear after spear at his target, which continued for around a minute, when the pawn reached a place where he was surrounded by few trees.

"Now, I have you!" The Fallen Angel said in a laugher and threw another one.

"Boosted Gear!" Issei shouted and summoned his Sacred Gear, just in time to deflect the incoming attack.

"**Boost!"** Draig`s voice was heard from the Sacred Gear.

"Longinus? So you are the Red Dragon Emperor?" The man questioned with wide-opened eyes.

"Dragon Shot!" The boy shouted and shot a beam energy, by concentrating his magical power.

The shot flew so fast, that the Fallen Angel was barely able to dodge by flying to the left, after which he began descending down at his opponent, while throwing a spear after spear again. Hyoudou dashed forward and deflected every single of the enemy`s attack, when he suddenly found himself right before him.

"Ascalon!" The devil called out and the blade of a sword came out from the Sacred Gear.

Using it, Issei tried to stab the opponent, but the man simply raised himself in the air at the last possible moment, passing right above his target. Then, he counterattacked by creating another spear of light in his left hand and tried to stab the pawn`s back, but again he failed as well as Issei simply jumped to the right.

"You are an annoying one!" The Fallen Angel said and threw the same spear at the Red Dragon Emperor.

This time, the attack came a lot faster than usual and the latter found himself in a great pinch as the spear threatened to pierce him in the back. Hopeless, the teen tried to turn and deflect the charge despite being aware that it will be in vain. However, just before the spear found its target, a girl jumped right in front of the charge and using a samurai sword, blocked the attack, for both Hyoudou`s and the opponent`s surprise.

The girl appeared to be at the boy`s age and had a light-brown, long hair, tied into twintails, each held with a blue scrunchy. She also had violet eyes and wore white hooded cloak with gold and blue accents, under which could be seen a battle suit, which consisted of a black, skin-tight, short sleeved unitard with pauldrons, matching fingerless gloves that extend to her biceps, and thigh-high boots, all of which are adorned with straps.

"Always in trouble, are you, Issei-kun?" The girl spoke up.

"Irina!" The devil called out her name.

"This time I have an exorcist to deal with too." The man said and lifted himself about three, or four meters in the air and created another spear, which he threw at his opponents.

The two dodged by jumping one to the left, other to the right, further angering the Fallen Angel as he increased the speed of the whole 'create, than throw' process, attacking again and again, while the teens dodged over and over again.

"Damn, if I can only fight him on the ground just like a moment ago, it would be easy." Hyoudou commented.

"Leave that to me, Issei-kun!" Irina replied.

Just like that, her sword transformed into a lasso, which she swung at the opponent, grabbing him for his left leg. Seeing that, the enemy created another spear and attempted to cut the lasso with it, but got stunned when it failed.

"What?" He shouted.

"This is of the seven Holly Sword, Excalibur Mimic! You won`t be able to cut it just like that." The girl explained.

After that, she pulled the lasso with all her strength, bringing the man down to the ground. He managed to get up the fastest way he could, but was already too late as the brown-haired boy came straight at him in a speed too close for comfort and punched him hard and fast with his Sacred Gear right in the stomach. The impact of the hit sent the Fallen Angel two meters back, until his body crashed on the ground, making him lose consciousness.

"Phew, that`s finally over." Hyoudou saud, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Hey, Issei-kun, what was that all about?" Shindou questioned the boy as she neared him.

"Our school got attacked by some fallen angels and stray magicians, so I am on my way to inform the President about it." The pawn explained shortly. "Can I ask you to go there and help Xenovia and the rest, until I get some back up?"

"Sure." The girl replied with a cheerful, yet serious voice.

"Thanks a lot!" Issei thanked and ran ahead.

Irina turned around and headed herself towards Kuoh Academy.

Meanwhile, back in the school, Tatsumi searched around for his friends, while dealing with the enemies that he encountered on the way. He already fought couple of stray magicians as he managed to get himself the same cloak he gave to his stepbrother. The pawn reached to the conclusion that they are trying to capture the other devils, avoiding to kill them if possible as if they were searching for someone specific.

Currently, he was walking by school`s the assembly hall, after deciding to start checking extra facilities, such as the hall, tennis ground and training hold, previously visited by him. The boy though of using the front entrance to it, when he passed by an open window and a familiar voice caught his attention, making him stop. Using a nearby tree to climb on it, Hyoudou took a sneaky look through the window, when he saw three magicians standing in a circle formation, while surrounding a bunch of students, all of which appeared to be devils, due to the fact that weren`t affected by the barrier. The group consisted of five students, two boys and tree girls, who were tied for both hands and legs and placed back to back in a circle formation as well. However, certain someone of them left bigger impression on the former assassin, due to the fact he knew the guy. It was his fellow family member, the knight, Yuuto Kiba.

"You five, make sure you behave, or else we will kill all the humans, who are attending this school, just like we said." One of the magicians spoke up.

"That`s cowardly." The other boy replied.

He was around Kiba and his age, with blonde hair, just like Yuuto, grey eyes and wore the boy`s school uniform, but without the blazer, while his sleeves were rolled up.

"Keep your mouth shut." Another one of the opponents replied back. "We are looking for certain someone, who studies here. As long as you behave, we will let you go after we find him."

"And what will happen to that person?" Kiba questioned, calmly.

"That`s none of your business." The third one interrupted in.

'I have to do this concentrated to the fullest.' Tatsumi thought to himself and climbed down the tree.

After which, he went to the assembly`s entrance, took a look around to see if more enemies were coming and entered the building and in after a minute he was before the door that led to the same room, where his friend and the rest were held captive. The pawn took a deep breath, calmed himself and slowly opened the door. Everyone shot their eyes upon his entrance, some with hope, like the students, other with a normal expression, which referred to the hooded figures. Seeing the boy dressed in a cloak like them, they thought they saw someone from their team.

"Hey you, did you find the person that we are looking for?" One of the magicians asked away.

"No." The pawn shortly answered, while trying to change his voice, in order to avoid, being recognized. "I actually forgot, who we are supposed to look for." He played dump, thinking this chance as good one to obtain some information. "Can you tell me again?"

"Are you stupid?" Another one questioned "We are not to speak of such information in front of hostages."

"I don`t see a problem with that. I mean, they are tied up and such." Other carelessly said and turned towards the disguised assassin. "We are looking for that boy, who wields one of the Longinus. I think his name was Hyoudou Issei."

Hearing that, Rias`s servants` eyes widened at the second. The target was a very close friend of them and just for that those people attacked the school and everyone in it, just for something like that.

'So they are after Issei-kun.' Kiba thought to himself while observing the situation. 'But even so, it`s hard to believe that Khaos Brigade decided to attack because of only that.'

The former member of Night Raid on the other hand felt anger trying to take control of him, but he somehow managed to restrain in and continued with the conversation. He took a look around to see if it was possible to handle each of them easily, but the fact that they stood at three different places made the task harder for him. The boy knew that he had to gather them closer to each other enough to make his move and leave less risk of them hurting the students, so he decided to take further advantage of his hidden identity.

"Anyway, the higher up ordered me to replace you in guarding the hostages, while the three of you have to go and help with the searching." Tatsumi quickly lied and waited for their reaction.

Silence moved in for a minute, until the opponents moved from their places and headed towards the door and soon each one was pretty close to the other two and that was what the green-eyed teen waited for. He slowly reached behind his back and grabbed his sword and started pulling it out as quietly as he could, trying not to let out even the slightest killing intend, which could ruin the whole plan. It was when the magicians passed by him that he was certain of it as he made the move without hesitating. In the blink of an eye, the teen pulled Incursio`s key out with a swing, aimed at of the enemy`s head. And so it happened, the head literally separated itself from the main body and rolled backwards, shortly followed by the rest of the body. Everyone in the room shot eyes wide opened, shocked by the scene before them.

"Why…" One of them tried to ask, but was already too late.

Tatsumi turned his weapon back and pierced the opponent through his back and without wasting any time pulled it out. Seeing this, the third magician took out a dagger out of his hood and swung it at the boy out of rage, but sadly for him to no avail. The pawn simply leaned to the right, thus avoiding the cold weapon, while this caught the enemy off guard and he acted without hesitation again. He made a fast swing with the sword from left to right, cutting the tip of the target`s throat. Just like that, another body dragged down on the floor, which became like a small lake of blood. Noticing that, the boy lifted up the cloak`s hood, revealing his identity to the group of students.

Suddenly, a weak voice caught his attention. "Y-You low class devil… H-How dare you?" Looking down, the teen saw one of the opponents still breathing, while coughing blood. It appeared that she couldn`t die from the first strike and now she was dying from blood lose. It was a woman around the twenties with black, long hair and green eyes. "Kagura-sama and Esdeath-sama will revenge all of us."

The first name was totally unfamiliar to the green-eyed teen, but the the one that followed after immediately caught his attention.

"Is Esdeath here? Where? Tell me and I will end your suffering." Hyoudou asked with a dead serious voice that filled the entire room.

However, the magician didn`t answer and closed her eyes, preparing for the moment of her death. Seeing that, the former assassin let a sigh and coldly ran his sword through the enemy`s heart, ending her suffering as well as the battle. Silence moved in once again, which was lasted for minute, when the boy went next to the group of students and cut the ropes with which they were tied up.

"Thanks, Tatsumi-kun!" Kiba thanked their savior.

"Don`t mention it." The pawn calmly replied.

"So you are Tatsumi, the one our President was talking about." The other blonde-haired boy said with impressed voice. "I am Genshirou Saji, a devil of Sona Sitri and those girls behind us are from the same household as me. It`s nice to meet you." He added and stretched his right hand.

"Thank you very much!" The females thanked politely at the same time.

"I was glad to help." Hyoudou replied and after which he turned towards the other male pawn and returned gesture by stretched his right one as well, thus forming a handshake.

"Tatsumi-kun, where are the rest? And are they alright?" The knight asked.

"Issei went to inform the President about all of this, Xenovia should be around here somewhere searching for you, Koneko, Gasper and Ravel, and Asia is probably hiding somewhere as I suggested." The brown-haired boy explained in detail.

"I see." Yuuto noted.

"By the way, why are you wearing that cloak?" Saji questioned.

"It helps me move more freely without being noticed. You should take one as well for just in case." Tatsumi stated. "But, we can leave the chatter for latter. Now we should go and find the rest."

"I agree." His fellow family member supported him.

And so, they regrouped themselves and prepared to go out and look for their friends, while the former assassin had another reasons for insisting on that so much. And that was, Esdeath, the same woman that was big threat back in his world, now was about to became such in the one as well. The boy couldn`t help, but prepare to face her off at any time and any place, knowing the chance they meet up in this situation became bigger by the minute.

'Wait for me, Esdeath.' Tatsumi said to himself, while walking to the room`s door. 'Back at our world, I always ran from you and did my best to avoid meeting you, but now it`s different… Now, I am ready to face you with everything I have, until only one of us remains standing.' He added and tightened the grip around Incursio`s key.

**Phew, it`s finally done, chapter 9 – Trouble at school (part 1). I tried to speed up the pace in this chapter by having some stray magicians, Fallen Angels and Esdeath, aka Khaos Brigade attack Kuoh Academy, revealing more of Tatsumi`s nature as a former assassin, introducing new characters from the DxD world – Irina and Saji, making my own – two the unnamed Fallen Angels, one of which I have interesting idea about one of them, but you have to wait for next chapter to learn it. **

**Anyways, I want to use this chance and make something clear and that is: I won`t be changing Tatsumi`s second name "Hyoudou" which I gave him earlier in the fanfic, because first, I think it`s quite logical due to the fact that both of Issei and Tatsumu have brown hair, are around the same age and second, because I find this chance perfect for Issei to became more serious and responsible, while living with Tatsumi, who has lived through some hard times and has what it takes to teach Issei what he can, taking the same role as Bulat had in their time together. In short, character development.**

**So, I guess that`s what I have to say for now. I hope you like my work and that you will leave enjoyed this page. Feedbacks are welcomed as always, even if they are critiques, but no hateful ones, please. If possible I would want the critiques to be concentrated on my grammar, character style and development and such.**

**Once again, thanks for taking from your free time to read this work of mine.**

**See you around!**

**~Kris!**


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chapter 10 – Trouble at school (part 2)**_

While, Tatsumi and the rest were trying to survive in the hopeless situation in school, Issei was climbing the last part of stairs that led to the shrine at the top, where he met the leader of the angels and received the Dragon Slayer, Ascalon. Currently, he was running the last few stairs as the gate became closer and closer by second and the boy started looking around in just case, not wanting to miss the President and the other three third year students by any chance. And so he passed through the gate and headed towards the biggest building, which was right in front of him. He went to the door and opened as quickly as he could and stepped inside, when he felt the feeling like of crashing into a wall, but not an ordinary one at that. The hit sent him back on the ground in a sitting position and after recovering, Hyoudou shot a look ahead, just to see that he didn`t not met an wall, but the Vice-President of the Student Council, Tsubaki Shinra. She also sat on the floor due to impact and picked her glasses.

"Ouch." The pawn said, scratching up his butt. "I am sorry." He apologized to the girl.

"It`s not a problem." The black-haired devil replied with a calm and serious voice.

Just like that, Rias, Akeno and Sona appeared behind the queen and seeing the boy, raised an eyebrow in a surprise.

"Issei, what are you doing here?" Rias spoke up, making him look at her.

"President, we have got trouble." The brown-eyed teen stated, getting up on his legs. "Kuoh Academy is under attack." He said, shocking the girls one by one.

"What did you just say?" Tsubaki asked.

"Who is it attacked by?" The heiress of the Sitri family questioned next.

"By around one hundred stray magicians and few Fallen Angels, that`s for sure." Hyoudou explained. "It started during the big break."

"Stray magicians and Fallen Angels, you say?" The crimson-haired girl asked, while waiting for confirmation from the boy, which came as he nodded with his head.

"The fallen angels cast a barrier around the area of the school, which is currently blocking mobile phones." Issei added.

"How did you get out then?" Akeno questioned her junior.

"That`s thanks to Tatsumi. He killed few stray magicians and gave me the cloak of one of them, suggesting me to disguise as one in order to slip unnoticed, and told me to come and inform you." The pawn explained.

"That boy sure if full of surprises." Sona stated.

"Oh, and I met Irina on the way. I asked her if she can go and help him and the rest." The brown-haired teen added.

"Are the students okay? What about Saji and the others from my peerage?" Sitri asked with a nervous, yet serious and cold voice.

"I didn`t see him, so I don`t know." Issei answered.

"Akeno, Ise, we are going there immediately." Rias interrupted with a serious voice on her side as well. "We are going to teleport to the club house and sneak into the barrier from there."

"Yes, ma`am!" Her servants replied at the same time.

"Then, Tsubaki and I will go tell this to the Underworld." Sona said calmly, earning her special attention from Rias.

"Are you going to call your sister?" The heiress of the Gremory family questioned.

"I don`t want to, but the lives of our servants are in danger as well as those of the humans that attend Kuoh Academy too. As the Student Council`s President, I can`t stand that, neither I can allow it." She explained, making the other pure-blooded devil to smile.

Saying that, a white magical circle appeared and two the black-haired girls disappeared, leaving the members of the Gremory household alone. They looked at each other and shortly did the same with a destination point, Occult Research Club`s operating house.

Meanwhile, back in Kuoh Academy, Tatsumi, Kiba and Saji searched for their friends and other enemies, while being disguised as stray magicians by idea of the green-eyed boy. The girls from Sona`s peerage hid themselves in the tennis club as their fellow blonde-haired devil from the same family asked them to hide and wait until the situation gets better. Right now, they were in front of the fountain in the front yard, thinking to split up from there in order to cover bigger area faster, wanting to prevent any loses.

For their surprise, the front yard appeared to be pretty quiet and calm as they couldn`t find a single opponent in close radius, making them think that the enemy must be either checking up the school buildings or the backyard.

"Those stray magicians sure are annoying me. First, they flip rook and stone to find us, and now, when we are looking for them, not a single one is around." Saji commented.

"My guess is that they are in the school house." Kiba stated his opinion. "How should we split?" He asked and turned towards the brown-haired pawn.

However, Tatsumi didn`t answer and just remained silent, moving only his eyes from left to right and the other way around.

"What`s wrong, Tatsumi-kun?" The knight questioned, seeing his friend reaction, but received a sign to keep quiet.

"Show yourself. I know you are hiding around here." He said, stunning the other two boys as they started looking around.

Suddenly, a figure came out behind a tree and headed towards them. Closing in, they learned that it was a girl around their age and height with light-brown hair, tied in twintails and violet eyes.

"Irina-san?" Kiba called out, catching his friends attention and took his hood down, revealing his face.

"If it`s not Kiba-kun. Also Saji-kun, was it?" She replied back and waved.

Noticing that she as an ally, Tatsumi followed Yuuto`s action and took out his hood, shortly followed by his fellow pawn from the Sitri household.

"You know this girl?" The former assassin asked the blonde-haired knight.

"Yes. We fought together in the past." Kiba answered. "She is also a childhood friend of Issei."

"So that`s how it is." Hyoudou said casually.

"My name is Shidou Irina. And who are you?" The exorcist greeted with a cheerful smile.

"I am…" He tried to introduce himself when a familiar voice echoed in the air.

Turning towards the source direction, they saw a blonde-haired girl and a blonde-haired boy coming their way, while running as fast as they could. Just like that a dangerous feeling went through the green-eyed teen and he looked up at the sky, when he spotted a woman flying right above the two bishops with a pair of two black wings of feathers. She made an spear of light and tossed it at them, aiming for the pure-blooded devil`s back.

"Ravel, Gasper, jump forward!" Tatsumi shouted "Now!"

Hearing the serious voice of the boy, the two bishops did as told and jumped to the suggested direction, just in time to avoid the incoming attack from behind. The force of the attack was strong enough to erupt the ground, covering the area with a thick some, which raised all the to the attackers level. She used this chance and descended lower as quietly as possible, created another spear and after focusing the same targets, launched herself down in an incredible speed.

Ravel heard that and tried to get up and help Gasper stand up, but was already too late as the woman came down on them and swung the spear at her head. The youngest child of the Phenex family closed her eyes and hugged herself, preparing for the worst. However, just before that happened, the wielder of Incursio jumped out of the smoke and kicked the woman in the head, sending her crashing two meters in the solid ground.

Riser`s sister stood there silent, unable to say or do anything, except to watch the said boy and be amazed. It was the second time he saved her life and a strange feeling ran through her body as if she couldn`t move her eyes even she wanted to.

After the smoke cleared itself, the others finally were able to take a look at the attacker, recognizing her as a fallen angel, and one who appeared to not support the peace between the Three Factors.

"Tatsumi-kun, is everyone alright?" Kiba questioned as he and the rest went next to them, receiving an nod with a head as a reply.

"H-Hyoudou Tatsumi, I have something to tell you." Ravel spoke up, after finally breaking for her previous state. "That woman, who defeated my brother is here at the gym fighting against Koneko Toujou."

Hearing this, the boy backed a step as he tightened the grip around the handle of his sword. His fear have had come true and even thought he knew this would have to happen someday, the news still caught him off guard. It was a fact that everywhere Esdeath went, she always created conflicts, killing whoever is on her way. Then the voice of the opponent echoed as they saw her getting up.

"You…" She said and pointed at the former assassin. "Are you a relative of Hyoudou Issei?" She questioned and created another spear of light.

"What if I am?" The green-eyed teen replied with calmly, which obviously angered the woman.

"I won`t forgive him or his relatives. Thanks to him, my dear sister is dead." She stated in a louder voice.

"Sister?" Irina questioned with a puzzled face.

"I am talking about my sister, Raynare." The opponent explained, shocking Kiba, who was the only one familiar with the latter.

"The Fallen Angel, who tricked Issei-kun into going on date with her, just to kill him, because of his Sacred Gear. She was your sister?" The knight asked casually.

"Yes, my name is Kagura." The woman finally introduced herself and attempted to throw it at Issei`s stepbrother, but her attack was blocked by Kiba, who used his speed advantage to dash to her in no time and stopped her with his sword.

"Tatsumi-kun, you go help Koneko-chan. I will take care of this one." He explained.

"I will help as well." Irina supported as came down from the air and tried to slice the Fallen Angel, who was quick enough to dodge backwards.

"Don`t you dare die on me." Tatsumi replied and ran off ahead to the school building, which was between him and the gym.

In the meantime, Xenovia and Koneko were having hard time dealing with Esdeath, but even so, they somehow managed to stand equal to her, not leaving any openings, which could be used against them. However, the devils were starting to feel more tired by the second and that reflected on their movements more or less, which was mostly the case with the blue-haired knight. Quarta didn`t find herself at one place for about ten minutes now.

Currently, they tried to take a moment of breath by hiding behind a piece of a broken wall, without leaving any sounds that could reveal their hideout. The former general on the other hand stop quietly and tried to locate them and even though she didn`t like such a game of hide and seek, her face looked really satisfied, due to the wonderful time that the two provided her with.

Just like that, Koneko jumped in the air all the way to the enemy and shot her right leg at Esdeath`s head, who seeing the danger ducked under the charge and counterattacked by aiming a punch at the rook`s stomach. Toujou responded by swinging her left leg, deflecting the attack in the progress, after which she made a backwards summersault and landed on the floor. The human`s next attack came shortly after as the woman shot her hands couple of times, attempting to freeze her target. The white-haired girl successfully dodged each of the charges and made her reply by making a side-split, trying to the trip the opponent, but again to no avail, which was showed when the 'Empire`s Strongest' touched the ground, creating an ice pillar right under the rook and launched it up, thus pushing Koneko towards the ceiling.

The devil got up in a kneeled position and punched the center of the pillar with all her strength, the result of which, the ice object broke into two half and she began to fall to the ground. Esdeath acted again by summoning another al lot sharper one under the place where the rook was going to land, shooting it at the target. Fortunately for Koneko, Xenovia interfered by slicing off the pillar in the it`s base, breaking it in two half again, which latter was used by the while-haired teen, who stepped on the ice and launched herself at the enemy. Closing in, the rook aimed a fast punch in the former general`s head, but without success as it was simply caught by her with the right hand. After that, Esdeath spun around, increasing her speed and just like that, threw the opponent at the nearest wall and this time was successful. Toujou crashed with her back as the force of the impact made her cough some blood, after which, she dragged down on the ground.

"Koneko-chan!" Xenovia shouted, taking her eyes of the enemy.

This was immediately noticed by the former general and she acted at once by dashing towards the blue-haired knight in no time. She shot her left hand in the form of a fist straight into the devil`s stomach, making her bend forward due the pain, dropping Durandai in the progress.

"You shouldn`t take your eyes off me." The human stated

Then, she grabbed Quarta`s left hand and broke it by twisting it back, sending incredible pain in the former exorcist`s body as she let out a scream, which echoed in the entire area. Next, Esdeath created a sword of ice and stabbed the girls right leg, causing further pain to her, but instead hearing a scream, she received an mocking smile.

"I get it." Xenovia said weakly. "I get it why he doesn`t like you."

"Who are you talking about?" The former general questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"He is so kind, warm and carrying to others, winning their hearts in a short amount of time. You on the other hand are cold, lacking empathy for others. That`s why you are so different from each other." The girl answered, continuing to explain thing in a surrounded way.

"Enough talking. You two did well providing me some entertainment." The woman complimented her opponents. "But in the end you will remain weak and those who are weak always die." She stated as she pulled the sword out and aimed it at Xenovia`s heart.

However, before that happened, she felt danger coming from above and stopped middle way, lifting her head just to see an incoming sword with the speed of a bullet. This made the human jump two meters back in order to avoid the attack as the weapon stabbed in the ground like a nail.

'Where have I seen this weapon before?' Esdeath asked in her mind, taking a closer look at the object.

"You sure are taking your time, are you? It`s not like you." A voice echoed through the area.

She looked at the direction from which the sword came, just to see a hooded figure on the railing on the second floor, who didn`t last a second more and jumped over the fence all the way to the lower ground. After that, the figure went next to the blue-haired girl and looked at her with a serious face.

"Are you alright?" He asked and took out the cloak, revealing himself.

"Tatsumi!" Esdeath called out, earning herself special attention from him.

"Esdeath!" The said boy replied back and grabbed the handle of his sword.

"Do you still want to fight me so badly?" The 'Empire`s Strongest' questioned.

"That`s right. There`s no other way between us, only to fight each other." Hyoudou coldly explained. "No matter how hard you want it, I won`t come to your side."

"Then, let`s have this battle that you desire." The former general said with a disappointed voice.

"Koneko, please take Xenovia and go find Asia to tend your wounds." The brown-haired boy said by only turning his head to the rook`s direction.

Toujou didn`t reply and just went and picked up her female friend and headed towards the door, at which she stopped for a second.

"Be careful, Tatsumi-senpai." She spoke up and left the gym, leaving only the two former soldiers behind.

Tatsumi let a sigh of relief and tightened the grip around the handle of his weapon as he closed his eyes and a silently dangerous feeling filled up the atmosphere, which was instantly noticed by the woman and she couldn`t help, but enjoy it to the fullest.

'Incursio!' The devil called out to the former Imperial Arm. 'You are alive, are you? If so, then I beg of you, give me all of your power. Back at our world, I wasn`t strong enough to protect many of my friends, but I had enough of that. I will protect my new friends with everything I have, so give me every last piece of power you have. Even if it will be for one last time, even if it will cause me pain. I will endure whatever pain is needed, so please…' He added.

'_Shout it out, Tatsumi! With your raging spirit!' _

After those words, Tatsumi shot his eyes wide-opened.

"Incursio!" He shouted and pulled the sword out of the ground, lifting above his head.

Just like that, the floor erupted and a beast came out from it, creating a strong earthquake around the entire area, which began to move as it leaned forward towards the boy, surrounding him with its hands. A red light began glowing strongly, until it fully covered Hyoudou, hiding him in the progress. When the light faded out, on the same place stood the former assassin wearing a silver armor, that made him look a bit taller than usual, having an more savage, reptilian-based shape with claws on the gauntlets and feet, as well as a secondary pair of eyes and an horn on the helmet.

"It evolved?" Esdeath raised an eyebrow in astonishment.

Then, the boy disappeared from sight, making the former general to start looking around, when suddenly the feeling of attack coming from the left warned her and she instantly dodged back, just to see Tatsumi reappearing before her, who didn`t waste a second and attacked again by aiming an elbow with right arm. The human defended by creating a wall of ice, but that wasn`t enough as the charge was strong enough to pierce through it with an ease. Seeing that, Esdeath decided to counterattack by shooting her right hand at the pawn`s head, who reacted by grabbing the stretched hand and span around, thus increasing his speed. After which, he threw the opponent at the nearest wall with incredible force, leaving not much choices to the former general. So she created an ice sword and stabbed it in the ground, slowing herself in the progress, until she fully stopped and stepped on the floor.

"That`s it, Tatsumi!" The 'Empire`s Strongest' said with an excited voice. "Show me more of how much you have grown." She added and prepared for battle.

Meanwhile, at the front yard, Kiba, Saji and Irina were still fighting the Fallen Angel, Kagura as the fight went on turns. First, the black-haired girl threw a spear of light at them and then the team tried to bring her down to the ground, so they can turn things in their advantage. But neither of the sides had a success and they began to get tired and annoyed, which was mostly the case with Raynare`s sister.

Currently, the team was running around the trees, trying to lure the opponent closer to them, while thinking how to defeat her faster. Kagura continued to throw spear after spear, which were all dodged one by one, angering the woman further. She created another one and aimed it at the exorcist, who was running towards another tree.

"Stop hiding and fight me for real." The Fallen Angel said and threw it at her target.

Just before it reached Irina, she transformed her sword into a lasso and swung it at a nearby branch, grabbing it without trouble. She then increased her speed and rocked herself with it, lifting all the way to the tree top, thus avoiding the attack once again. After that, the girl transformed her Excalibur Mimic back into a blade and jumped at the enemy, threatening to slice her. That forced, Kagura to descend down in order to avoid being hit, not knowing that she accidently fell into the trap.

"Now, Kiba-kun!" Shidou shouted, while falling to the ground.

All of a sudden, the knight appeared from behind a bush and dashed towards the descending, catching her mid air. Closing in, the boy swung his sword right at the opponent`s right hand with the thought to make her defenseless to their attacks. Noticing the danger, the Fallen Angel created another spear, much bigger one and used it to block the attack and instantly counterattacked by creating another one in her other hand and aimed it the blonde-haired teen. Almost being hit, Yuuto used his legs to push back to ground, dodging in the progress, which at first seemed forcedly, but later turned out to be intentionally as Irina came right behind him and tried to cut Kagura`s left hand. Sadly enough, the result was the same as the previous ones as the enemy simply raised herself in the air, allowing the light brown haired girl to 'pass by', landing on the ground empty handed.

The Fallen Angel`s reply didn`t remain behind and she threw the big spear in her right hand Shidou`s back, leaving the said girl almost no time nor to dodge, let alone block. But instead of her death, a red demonic energy appeared from the right and collided with Kagura`s spear, resulting in destroying it.

"What now?" The black-haired girl questioned with an angered voice and turned the direction from which the light came, just to see two girls and a boy standing a meter away.

"President! Issei-kun! Akeno-san!" Kiba called out in a relief.

"Crimson hair, blue eyes, red demonic power… Could you be from the Gremory clan?" The Fallen Angel asked.

"Rias Gremory, it`s pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms. Fallen Angel." The pure-blooded devil introduced herself.

"I finally found you, the one, who killed my sister." The opponent said and threw the other spear she held at Rias.

"Sister?" Issei questioned with a puzzled face after deflecting the charge with his Sacred Gear.

"Her name is Kagura and she is a sister of Raynare." Yuuto stated, running next to the group.

"What?" Hyoudou shouted in a surprise. "Yuuma-chan had an sister."

"Don`t say that fake name." Kagura replied with angered voice and made a big spear of light and threw at the entire group.

However, it appeared to be futile as Rias simply created a big ball of demonic energy and launched it against the incoming attack, neutralizing it the progress. Annoyed, the Fallen Angel created another two spears and descended at them, forgetting about her disadvantage at low height, which she came to regret as the group scattered in time, leaving her at the middle. Seeing this chance, the heiress of the Gremory family nodded to her queen and the two combined their attacks, demonic energy and lightning, sending it at the opponent. Kagura didn`t have time to do anything, just stand there, while the combined attack crashed down on her with a great force. Smoke raised itself for around a minute, after which there wasn`t a single trace of the black-haired girl.

"Rias!" Ravel called out from the distance, while running towards the group, followed by Gasper.

"Glad to see that you are okay." The crimson-haired girl replied.

"Is it over?" Issei questioned.

"Not yet!" Kiba answered. "The barrier is still up, which means…"

"…There are more enemies to defeat." Irina finished for him.

And as if, hearing her words, the remaining stray magician surrounded the group out of the blue, preparing to deal with their targets. The youngsters regrouped in a small circle and waited for the opponents to act.

"Let`s deal with them as fast as possible and then go look for our friends." Rias exclaimed loudly.

"Alright!" The rest replied in one voice as they met up with the magicians.

In that time, at the school gym, Tatsumi and Esdeath were having one heated showdown as they fiercely exchanged attacks between each other with incredible speed. The area around them was slowly being destroyed part by part due the intensive battle. So far neither the devil nor the human could take the upper hand over the other one, just continued to fight until the needed opening to strike appeared.

Right now, the former assassin was having his chance to attack once again as he started aiming couple of fast punches at the woman, who had to dodge each of them. Then, she spun around and swung her right leg at him, just for the boy to do exactly the same as their legs met each other. The force impact sent the 'Empire`s Strongest' whole four meters back, until she finally stopped and counterattacked by creating couple of ice pendants and fired them at the devil. Seeing the threat coming closer, Hyoudou stretched his right hand and just like that a big spear appeared in it with which he swung fiercely, destroying every single one of them with a simple strike.

However, the next attack came without a second later as Esdeath dashed towards him and shot her left hand at his head, trying to freeze him in the progress. Unfortunately for her, the green-eyed teen leaned backwards and made a summersault in the same direction on one place, aiming his legs at the opponent, forcing her to back off two steps. Tatsumi took this chance and ran at her as he quickly shot Neuntote at the woman`s chest, who was forced to dodge by jumping over the charge and then counterattacked by creating a sword of ice and pushed it down at the pawn. And again, he avoided it by stepping to the left, replying to the latter by swinging the spear down to the ground, straight in the enemy, who had to jump back once more in time to see the big weapon crashing in the floor, breaking in the progress.

Landing on the ground, the former general got herself attacked again as the image of incoming towards her spear appeared before her eyes to which she had to respond by leaning to the left in time to track the weapon as it stabbed itself in the wall behind. After that, Esdeath turned her eyes back forward to locate Hyoudou, just to see no signs of him as she began looking around, until a dangerous feeling warned her and she reacted by instinct by stepping to the right, just before the devil came down on her from the air with incredible speed. He didn`t waste a second and pulled out Neuntote from the wall, directly swinging it at the woman, who dodged by jumping two meters backwards.

'What`s with this speed?' Esdeath thought to herself, trying to analyze the movements of the enemy, while looking at him. 'I am barely keeping up with it.'

'It`s obvious that I have the speed advantage, but I still need to find the right opening that I need to strike.' The brown-haired boy did the same, taking a moment of rest.

Silence moved in the area as both of them prepared for another round, seriously concentrating on the battle and nothing else currently mattered, just to try and kill the other one. The former general created two ice swords, one per hand and took a fighting stance, while Tatsumi tightened the grip around his spear, ready to restart fighting. Just like that, they exchanged one last look at each other and launched themselves forward and in less a minute the distance between them was short enough for attacking.

The woman decided to act first and swung one of the swords at the boy, wanting to catch him at his tracks, but that failed as the latter jumped over the 'Empire`s Strongest`, making a summersault and landed right behind her. Not wasting any time, he replied by spinning around and aiming his spear at the opponent, who reacted on her side by creating a wall of ice that she used to slow the charge enough to back a step or two, thus avoiding it in the progress. Esdeath`s counterattack came shortly after that as she swung the ice sword in her right hand at the boy, which was successfully dodged by him as the two started exchanging blow after blow, heating and speeding up the tension between them. During one of the clashes, the force of the impact sent them both three meters backwards, but a break didn`t followed and they simply charged at each other again.

Closing in, Hyoudou decided to take the upper hand and shot Nuentote forward, but it was again avoided as the human created a pillar of ice right under her and launched herself in the air, going right through that one hole in the ceiling from earlier. Then, she snapped the fingers of her right hand and created a huge ball of ice, sending it down on the opponent, completely destroying the roof and covering the entire area, leaving him no place to dodge.

However, the devil remained calm and went directly under the center of the object and waited for it to come closer, switching the spear to his left hand. When that happened, he aimed his free hand fast and straight to the center of the incoming ball, as a result, it cracked up into many smaller pieces.

'Everything has a weak point, no matter how hard it is, right, Su?' He thought to himself, recalling what Susanoo taught him.

The former general`s eyes widened witnessing the result of her attempt, while floating in the air, but soon recovered from the shock and by snapping her fingers once more, turned to ice pieces into pendants and fired them at the boy. Seeing the attack, Tatsumi kneeled forward and just like that a pair of two dragon-like wings appeared from the back of the armor, and he flew off right at the woman, thus escaping from the falling at him objects.

Esdeath saw that and decided to bet on the surprise attack, waiting for the boy to come closer enough, and when that happened, she attempted to meet him by shooting one of her swords forward. Sadly for the former general, this was predicted by the pawn as he flew right under the charge, made a loop in the air and found himself right above the opponent. Using the chance, Hyoudou swung his left leg at the target, which sent her crashing on the ground like bullet with her back with that, after that he began descending at the 'Empire`s Strongest', who got up the fastest way she could and seeing the incoming attack, moved her hands in front of the chest area. Suddenly, a dark blue light in the form of a small ball and started glowing between her hands.

"It seems, I will be finally able to use this one on you." She whispered and a smirk grew on her face. "Mahapadma!" She shouted and just like the ball expanded, freezing up the entire area. "It`s checkmate…" She said and looked up at the love of her life.

But instead of frozen in time as she expected him to be, Tatsumi was still descending at down, shocking her. Esdeath reacted by stepping two steps back and decided to block the incoming attack with her sword, swinging her left hand up in the air. Unfortunately for her, the brown-haired teen was the faster one, which was proved when he ran the spear down, cutting her entire left arm, which after that crashed on the ground. The boy continued his assault and tried to punch the woman at the stomach, forcing her to make a big jump backwards. Landing on the floor, she looked at the wound with an amazement and couldn`t believe it as this was something quite unusual for her. Usually she wouldn`t let even an attack to hit her, let alone to lose a piece of her body while fighting, due to fact that most of the opponents weren`t strong enough to accomplish such a thing. The last time she recalled this happening to her was when she fought against Akame on the last day of the war between the Empire and the Revolutionary Army.

"This is great, really great, Tatsumi!" The human called out with a joyful looking face and voice. "You truly have become an opponent, worthy of great respect. It makes me happy to see that." She added.

However, the green-eyed teen didn`t reply and just remained silent, preparing for the third round as he could feel that it will probably be last one in this intensive battle.

"Giving me the silent treatment, huh?" The former general said and pointed her remaining hand forward. "Come at me! Let`s end this everything we have."

Just like that, Hyoudou dashed forward at the opponent, who attacked by throwing the sword of ice at him, trying to surprise him in his tracks, but he simply dodged to right and launched himself once again. Seeing that, the 'Empire`s Strongest' created another sword and so the two clashed with each other, beginning to exchange blow after blow with their weapons, moving around so freely as if they were dancing on the battlefield. This continued for around a minute, until during one of the clashes between Neuntote and the ice sword, the impact unleashed a force powerful enough to push both of them two steps backwards. But it was clear that Incursio`s weapon was the harder one as the human`s sword simply broke into hundreds of small pieces. The pawn used this chance and jumped forward, aiming his spear at the opponent, who reacted by creating another one in an instant and charged as well. Sadly for her, the boy was a second faster and managed to pierce through her stomach as she found herself right buried in his body, which shortly after that dragged to the ground. Hyoudou kneeled, pulling out the spear as he found himself staring right above the woman, who looked at him as well with a smile on her face.

"Well done, Tatsumi!" She said as the feeling of the darkness surrounding her slowly began to take over. "You win as the stronger one and I will die as the weaker. Even so, I am truly happy that I could meet my end in your hands." She added and stretched her hand up, touching his helmet in the progress. "Please, spare me the agony and finish me off."

The brown-haired teen got up, took his spear and let out a sigh and gulped down his tears and moved Neuntote right above Esdeath`s heart, preparing to do what he was asked to.

"I love you." The woman said with an innocent voice.

"I know." The devil replied back. "I hope we can be on the same side in the afterlife one day. Farewell." He stated and ran the weapon through Esdeath`s heart as her hand simply fell down and darkness finally covered her completely.

After that, the boy kneeled down and closed her eyes, picked up the body and ran ahead to somewhere, while still wearing the armor.

Meanwhile, at the school`s front yard, Issei and the rest were finishing off the stray magicians slowly, but for sure as the full with energy, Akeno and Rias easily outmatched their opponents. The pawn also recharged Kiba`s and Irina`s stamina by transferring a bit of his power with his Sacred Gear, resulting in the two regaining their energy back. With that current state, dealing with the magicians was a simple task for them and it was clear as a day that things were going to end pretty soon.

Currently, Rias and Akeno were flying in the air, fighting off those who were in the air as well, while Hyoudou, Yuuto, Shidou and Saji fought with those on the ground. Ravel and Gasper on the other hand simply stood in the center of the circle that the group was trying to keep and waited for the battle to end at last as they wore much more relieved look on their faces.

"Man, they don`t seem to stop coming." Issei complained after punching one stray magician in the face, sending him two meters back, until he met the nearest tree.

"I think those are from the last ones." The knight stated and supported himself on his fellow devil`s back, making it 'back to back'.

Then, another opponent appeared and fired a ball of light at the boys, who seeing the attack, scattered in two directions, thus dodging it. After that, the Red Dragon Emperor turned towards the magician and pointed the hand with the Sacred Gear forward.

"Dragon Shot!" He screamed and sent a beam of energy straight at the attacker, who had no time nor to block or dodge and simply watched as the charge hit him head on. The impact of which sent the magician about six or seven meters in the distance, leaving no trace of him.

However, the boy didn`t have time to rejoice as another one started firing at him from the left again and again, after every time he dodged or deflected the threat. This began to get on Issei`s nerves and he dashed at the opponent, running at random, making it hard to be hit and as soon as the distance was enough for attacking, the boy shot a punch in the stomach of the enemy, focusing his strength at that one point. The magician coughed some blood and dragged on the ground unconscious, giving the pawn the chance to rest for a moment, which sadly enough for him didn`t happen as the next attack came shortly after that. This one came from above and hit the ground behind the boy, the force of which sent him two meters ahead, facing the ground with his face.

"What was that?" Issei questioned, while getting up on his feet and shot a quick look in the sky.

It was then when he saw the figure of the exact same Fallen Angel he fought, while passing through the park earlier today and where he met up with Irina. The fact that the man was here meant that the boy didn`t do his job how he should, knocking him only for a short period of time.

"Is is a Fallen Angel!" Saji stated, catching the attention of the others.

"Hey Issei-kun, isn`t that the same we fought earlier?" The exorcist asked the boy, which was confirmed with a nod with head.

"So there was another one, after all." Akeno said casually, while floating in the air with the help of her wings, just like Rias.

"It looks like the mission failed." The man commented, seeing the last magician being defeated at the hands of the blonde-haired knight. "At least, I will eliminate the one we came for." He added and created a spear of light, throwing it the Red Dragon Emperor.

"Ise, watch out!" The crimson-haired girl shouted.

However, just before the attack found its target an armored figure appeared out of nowhere and deflected it using a big spear, surprising everyone at present. After that, the unknown figure flew in the air using a pair of two wings and covered the distance in less than a second, passing right above the Fallen Angel and quickly and easily cut the man in two halves, which simply fell down on the ground. It was that moment, the sky cleaned itself, marking the disappearance of the barrier that was placed around the entire school ground, leaving place of a light-blue sky without a single cloud and the sun shining right down. The armored figure landed on the ground, shortly followed by the two third year students as everyone began staring at the mysterious person.

"Is that Vali?" Issei called out, trying to recognized the person as his arch rival, Vali Lucifer.

"No, it`s not Albion." Ddraig commented from his hand.

"It`s me." A familiar voice came out from the armored figure as the armor itself began disappearing, until it fully revealed the one wearing it as everyone`s eyes widened to see the former assassin.

"Tatsumi?" Hyoudou called to his stepbrother.

"Issei, you sure took your time getting here and I had to save your ass once again. Take this more seriously, will you?" The green-eyed teen commented, softly scolding up the latter.

"I am sorry." Issei apologized, when something ringed in his head. "Wait, who cares about that? More importantly what was that thing you wore just now?"

"I will explain later." The other pawn replied shortly.

"He`s right." Rias interrupted in. "What matters is that everyone are okay and this battle is finally over." The pure-blooded devil added as she and everyone else went next to the boys. It was that moment they saw his face and got a surprised look on their faces.

"So then, that armor was your Balance Breaker?" Issei questioned his stepbrother.

"We will have time to think over that as I am really interested in hearing more about that armor, but now we should handle things here." A voice interrupted in from the direction of the school gate.

Turning towards that direction, everyone saw the leader of the Fallen Angels walking straight to them with a smile on his curious looking face, hinting his deep interest in the former assassin`s weapon.

"Azazel?" Rias called out the man by his name.

"So you saw that as well?" Himejima questioned, receiving a nod with head as a reply.

"Honestly, everyone in your peerage is full of hidden potential." The man said, turning towards the heiress of the Gremory family.

"Thank you for your kind words." Rias replied with and cracked up a devilish smile. "I carefully pick my servants."

"It sure is so and that`s something common between you and Sirzechs. I guess that`s because of to the bloodline." The Governor General of the Fallen Angels commented.

"I am here too, you know?" Saji barged in.

"Oh, it`s the Absorption line boy. Your Sacred Gear is also quite interesting." Azazel stated and laughed inwardly with a hand on his chin.

'This guy sure does things in his own pace.' Tatsumi thought to himself and didn`t doubt that everyone else thought the same, when something came to his mind. "Hey, Issei, where is the nearest river from here?" He asked his stepbrother, changing up the subject in the progress.

"Why do you ask? And why do you ask me?" The Red Dragon Emperor returned with a question on his turn.

"I just need to know. You are born in this town, right?" The wielder of Incursio asked once more.

"Let`s see…" Hyoudou started thinking.

"You don`t know, right?" Saji mocked.

"Shut up, I just can`t remember right now." Issei roared back.

"It`s about twenty minutes walking after the church in the forest." Irina answered instead of Issei. "I am from this town as well."

"Thanks." The former assassin thanked.

"Now everyone, let`s fix things up here and then we can go home." Rias said and smiled at her friends.

"We are on it!" The rest replied at the same time.

And so they split up around the school ground and started looking for wounded. The normal students and school staff didn`t quite understand what happened, so Rias and later Sona, explained that an earthquake erupted during the big break and that most of them fell unconscious because of the quake, which at first caused panic between the students, but it soon went down as they left the school, heading home, leaving only those who fought to clean up after them. In about only an hour, everything was back to normal, except for the broken school property, giving everyone finally the chance to take it easy and rest. Koneko and Xenovia were found with Asia in the cleaner`s room, where the bishop tended their wounds and shortly after that there wasn`t a single sign of the injuries Quarta and Toujou received from Esdeath.

The evening came and everyone was at their home, some in Hyoudou`s residence as Issei and the rest, other in a school mansion like Kiba and Gasper, third at their own houses as Saji, Sona and the rest of her peerage. In Hyoudou`s house, the youngsters had dinner and immediately went to bed as they began to feel very tired from the long day, which didn`t leave them any desire to do anything than go to sleep. The night was quiet one as there was no wind, no clouds in the sky, letting the moon to shine directly on the surface with its weak, white light. All that created one quiet and calm atmosphere in the entire area around the house as if it was a landscape.

Around 4 o`clock in the morning, Tatsumi woke up and after putting on his cloths and going to the bathroom, he quietly left the house and headed in the direction of the school. Entering it, the boy went behind the training hold in a area with a lot of tree as he started looking around until he saw a certain one marked with what appeared to be a sharp object. The teen neared the tree and kneeled before a bush, where lied the dead body of the 'Empire`s Strongest', Esdeath as he let out a sigh of relief and picked up her and without wasting any time went back out of the school area and headed towards the outskirts of the town. An hour and half later, Hyoudou passed by a church in the forest as Irina told him to go this way in order to reach the river. After twenty minutes, the devil was finally at the river bank where he placed the dead body held and quickly used his sword to cut some big branches, tying them up with a rope that he took out from bag on his back with the idea to create an wooden raft to let her on the river`s force, thinking that she would prefer that instead of being buried under the ground.

It didn`t take long before Tatsumi was done as he placed the woman`s body on the raft and shot one last look at Esdeath, clenching his teeth tighter as past memories of the two together started surfacing in his mind. And even thought they were enemies to end, he couldn`t help but feel somewhat guilty and saddened about it, which the boy accepted surprisingly pretty soon for his own wonder. He took a deep breath and pushed the raft on the water, letting to sail on the water`s stream as he watched the wooden object slowly disappear in the distance.

"May you find peace, Esdeath." He bit farewell to the woman, losing sight of the raft completely, wiping couple of tears from his face. "So you followed me after all?" He said casually and turned around to see the black-haired queen of the Gremory household standing before him.

"Tatsumi, are you alright?" Akeno questioned the boy, still unmoving.

"Yeah, I am fine." The former assassin answered and turned around again and just like that laughed inwardly as if he mocked himself. "Really now, I should be more honest with myself. Even after going as far to say that I didn`t like Esdeath at all, I guess I still liked her someway."

"What was she really like?" The girl asked.

"Despite being a sadist, who enjoyed causing harm and pain to others, but deep inside she was a lonesome person, who craved for the love and attention of others, even thought she probably wasn`t aware of that herself. Having her family and clan killed at a young age, she was simply living with the principle of the harsh reality of our cruel world." He explained.

Silence moved in as neither the boy nor the girl said or did anything, just simple stood and let the silent mood to continue for a bit longer, when all of a sudden, the green-eyed teen fell down on his knees, bowed his head down and hit the ground with a punch, trying to suppress the emotions that were about to surface.

"Tatsumi!" Akeno called out and ran next to the pawn, kneeled on the ground and wrapped him in her arms, burying his face in her cleavage.

The brown-haired boy on the other hand continued to try holding his feelings from taking the better of him as he didn`t want to be seen in a such state by the girl, which was noticed by her and she pushed him closer to her body. Embraced by the comfort of her body and warmth, Hyoudou slowly began calming down as a familiar feeling suddenly got to him. The very same feeling he felt when Sheele conformed him while he was mourning over the death of his childhood friends, Sayo and Ieyasu. However, this time it made him calm faster and felt different from then.

"It`s okay." The queen reassured him.

Shortly after that, the former assassin completely calmed down and tried to break up the hug, but was stopped by the black-haired girl, who tightened the grip of her hands even more, not letting him go, which hinted that she seemed to like doing that. Seeing that, the boy let her to hold him like that for as long as she wanted, which continued for around two minutes when the need of air came to Hyoudou and Himejima let him take a breath, breaking up the hug.

"Thanks!" Tatsumi thanked, catching up his breath. "I feel better now."

"Oh my, there`s no need for you to thank me." The violet-eyed teen replied and giggled after that. "I came to like that."

"I knew it." The boy replied and slightly laughed. "Akeno, you…" He tried to say something, just to be silenced with a kiss from the queen.

He stood there with wide-opened eyes, blinking few times in surprise, while she had her eyes closed and simply enjoyed the moment of their lips touching each other, which lasted for about a minute.

"Tatsumi, your lips are so juicy. Just like when I am sucking up a fruit." She said after breaking up the kiss, smiling at him in the progress.

"Juicy? Don`t say such things." He replied back, making the girl giggle again.

"Let`s go. I will make breakfast today." Akeno stated and got on her feet. "What do you think about a cake?"

"Cake for breakfast? I prefer fresh fruits or something baked." The former assassin commented.

"Then, it will be something baked." The black-haired girl said, putting up a thinking face, pointing her forefinger at her chin.

"I will help you." Hyoudou stated, catching up to his fellow devil.

And so, the two devils headed back to Hyoudou residence just as the sun`s first rays shined down on the ground, officially marking the start of an another day, the twenty-first day since Tatsumi came to this world as so much happened during those three weeks. He met up with some great new friends, fought few crazy opponents, started attending school, fell in love once more and killed the person he so avoided fighting back in his world. And now, the boy looked forward to his future days which remained before him, knowing that there will be hard times just like yesterday, but there will be always tomorrow to which he will look forward to.

**And so this chapter is done. I am sorry for the uploading in almost a month gap again. Originally, I finished it two weeks ago, but then I accidently deleted the Word file, so I had to write it over. Getting straight to the point, you readers most probably will remember this chapter with Tatsumi finally summoning Incursio`s dragon body and equipping the armor after such a long time. The second thing is the battle between Tatsumi and Esdeath, leading to the death of the ultimate sadist from the AgK series. I tried to show Tatsumi`s way of feeling towards her, sending her of the river in a wooden raft as I thought it would be more touching rather than burying her underground.**

**Also, there were two OC as Kagura, Raynare`s sister. I used the lack of info on Raynare`s background and so this is what I came up with. The name was influenced from the characters with the same name from Fairy Tail and Ga-Rei, since I wasn`t able to think of any other. The other character was that Fallen Angel, who Tatsumi killed in the end. **

**With this chapter, you could say I`m putting an end to this Arc as from the next chapter there will be more characters introduced, adding a little surprise, but it`s still a secret. **

**Anyways, thank you for finding time to read my work. Feedbacks are welcomed, even if they are critiques. However, if you are to critique, please make the constructive ones, such as those referring to my grammar, character style and like those. NO HATE!**

**Well, that`s what I had to say. **

**Till next time!**

**~Kris **


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter 11 – The weight of the past**_

**DREAM**

"**We finally meet each other, my host."** A voice echoed in Tatsumi`s mind while he was sleeping.

"Who`s there?" The pawn asked in a reply.

"**I am the one that resides in you, boy."** The same voice answered.

"What do you mean by that?" The devil questioned.

"**You and I are connected, just like we were back in the previous world** **ever since that man gave the key to you.**" The voice replied, making the boy to raise an eyebrow.

"Incursio?" The former assassin guessed, trying to identify the voice.

"**That`s right. I am the same creature that changed many wielders until I finally came in your possession. Your ability to adapt to every situation, every environment has proved that you are the best choice for my host." **The danger beast explained. **"Upon coming to this world, our existences have merged in one and so we will become the Evolving Dragon."**

"Evolving Dragon?" Hyoudou repeated with a puzzled voice.

"**We will talk more again, but for now that`s enough."** The voice said, while slowly fading away.

"Hey, wait…" Hyoudou called out, but nothing came in return.

**DREAM END **

It was at that moment, he felt something dragging him up from this place when his eyes shot wide open that showed that he is awake. The boy stood still and stared at the ceiling, which continued for around two minutes when the sound of someone knocking on the door echoed in his ears, followed by a familiar blonde-haired girl`s voice.

"Tatsumi-san, it`s time to get up. President-san and we are waiting you for breakfast." Asia explained.

The green-eyed teen didn`t replay and tried to instantly get up, but felt something holding him up on the both arms. This made the devil turn left first, just to find Akeno sleeping next to him, while holding up his left arm. The arm itself was buried between her breasts as he began feeling warm from the temperature that gave of the girl`s body. Then, the pawn turn right when the picture of a certain blue-haired girl, lying on his right arm jumped right before him as his eyes widened.

"Just what is going on here?" Hyoudou questioned with a louder voice, forcefully waking the two girls up.

"Good Morning, Tatsumi!" The queen greeted, opening her eyes, still not letting his arm.

"Good Morning!" Quarta greeted as well as she got up into a sitting position and yawned.

"Since when did you two get here?" The former assassin asked, while watching at the girls, who were absolutely naked.

"I came somewhere around 3 o`clock, Xenovia-chan must have done the same little latter." Himejima stated. "You were sleeping so wonderful, that I could not help, but want to sleep next to you.

"And I wanted to thank you properly for saving me from that Esdeath woman." The knight quickly put up a reason, while looking down.

"Honestly, I told…" The boy tried to say something, but the sound of someone literally barging in interrupted him.

Turning towards the door, the three devils saw the figure of their fellow brown-haired family member as he entered the room and placed his eyes to the bed. It was then, he noticed the picture in front of him and as if he lost words.

"What? Now you are not only with Akeno-san, but with Xenovia as well? Just what is going on here?" Issei shouted couple of questions.

"And don`t you know how to knock?" Tatsumi defended himself.

"Oh my, something interesting is happening here." Rias commented, standing behind her servant. "Tatsumi, you sure know how to gather attention." She added and giggled.

"I didn`t do anything, though. Now, would you please leave my room?" The boy tried to excuse himself.

"Come on, let`s leave them to fix themselves." The pure-blooded devil said to Hyoudou.

They turned around and followed their master, leaving the former assassin and the two girls to get ready to go down and have breakfast, which they did really quick and left not wanting to be late. The whole house looked peaceful, which was supported by the wonderful weather outside, light blue sky without a single cloud and the sun shining straight down, temperatures around 10 degrees and without the slightest sign of wind. That was so, because it was now July, two months since that battle at Kuoh Academy took place, school has ended for the year and it was now summer holiday. Today the Gremory household was about to leave for a two weeks holiday in Okayama, a city in the south of Japan, roughly in the middle between Kyoto and Hiroshima. There they were going to stay at summer residence of the Gremory family, near the sea`s coast, which was mostly used for a place where the family could take a break from the work in the Underworld.

Everyone appeared to be excited about it, but for Tatsumi, this was going to be the first ever holiday in his life and on the sea coast at that. In the world from where he came, he was able to get inside the sea only one time and it wasn`t something near a good memory for him. Then, the former assassin together with Bulat were on a mission to find and eliminate the 'Three Beasts', Esdeath`s strongest soldiers back at that time. As a result, all of them were successfully killed, but they weren`t the only one, who suffered casualties. His bro died, passing the Imperial Arm, Incursio onto the brown-haired boy with the belief that he will surpass him in no time. Something that new owner of the weapon tried his best to live up to Bulat`s expectations even now and will continue until the end of his life. All that left his first time going to the sea a painful memory to remember and it would remain like that no matter how much time passed.

In about five minutes, Tatsumi, Akeno and Xenovia entered the kitchen to have breakfast where they found Issei, Rias and Asia already finished doing that and now were enjoying a cup of tea. Their arrival earned them special glares from the pure-blooded devil and the pawn, as if they were trying to ask them about what happened during the night in a silent matter. Only the blonde-haired girl, who wasn`t aware of that, had a cheerful looking face.

"Good Morning!" She greeted first.

"Good Morning!" The three replied together and sat around the table.

"Where is Koneko?" The green-eyed teen questioned, noticing the absent rook.

"It looks like she woke up before everyone again and had breakfast first. She must be at her room at the moment." Rias explained.

"I see." The boy noted and just like that a gloomy feeling covered the entire room.

It was the same thing for the last four days, Toujou would wake up early, have breakfast, after which she preferred to spend the time inside her room. That of course was noticed by everyone else and it made them worry for their friend, but none dared to ask why and just left the girl do as she wanted. Even, the crimson-haired woman tried to talk to her, but she dodged the conversation, saying that it isn`t anything worth worrying for.

Suddenly, the door bell rang, catching everyone`s attention, making them turn towards the house`s entrance.

"It must be Ravel." The heiress of the Gremory family said and got up from her seat and headed to open the door.

Two days ago, the youngest child of the Phenex family went back to the Underworld to pack more luggage for the incoming summer holiday and to talk about something with her mother. After that day of battle at Kuoh Academy, she started accustoming to the whole group and soon became closer to the rest. However, the one who got most of her attention was none other than the former member of Night Raid. She even began calling him 'Tatsumi-sama', much to the boy`s discord, but his words fell on deaf ears no matter how many times he told her to remove that 'sama'.

Suddenly, the same phrase "Tatsumi-sama" echoed in the teen`s ears as he turned towards the direction from it which it came out when the picture of the blonde-haired devil pumped right before him. Seeing him, she ran next to the chair on which he was sitting.

"Good Morning!" The pawn greeted, immediately followed by the rest.

"Tatsumi-sama, how are you doing while I was away?" Ravel questioned, while locking her fingers together.

"I am doing fine." The boy answered. "What about you?"

"I am great! Thank you for asking. P-Please accept this present from me." The pure-blooded devil said and took out a small item from her pocket and handed it to the brown-haired teen.

The item was colored black and looked like a little box with the size of a normal pen. In the middle of the front side there were yellow lines in the form of a jug and the Phenex family`s symbol painted in red.

The former assassin watched at the item for a minute and then decided to accept it, thinking it would be rude to the blonde-haired girl if he refused, so he took it from her hand and putted it inside his pocket.

"Thanks!" He thanked and smiled.

"It`s the least I can do to make you up for saving me." Ravel replied.

"I told you, you don`t have to worry about that." Hyoudou returned. "We are friends after all."

"Still…" She started saying something, but paused as if she was being nervous "…It would be rude of me."

"Why are you being nervous about it?" Issei interrupted in.

"I don`t have to answer the question of a low class devil such as yourself." The youngest of the Phenex replied and left the kitchen all of a sudden.

"Hey, why was that for?" The first pawn asked and leaned backwards, while sitting on the chair.

However, no answer came from the girl and on top of that, the boy didn`t realize when he leaned enough to lose his balance and just like that fell on the ground, along with the chair as the sound of the impact echoed through the entire room, followed by a sound of pain from him.

"Issei-san, are you alright?"Asia questioned.

"I am fine." He replied as he got up and lifted his chair. "Geez, what`s with that girl? She is always like that to me. I just don`t get it."

"I think you should not worry about that. After all, we all have someone like that in our lives." His stepbrother stated.

"Tatsumi, did you have a person like that before coming to this world?" Xenovia asked with a curious voice.

The new devil didn`t answer right away as memories of Night Raid`s self proclaimed genius started floating in his mind. After that, the boy looked up through the window and then smiled.

"I did." He said. "If I compare Ravel and her, our blonde-haired friend is the nicer one."

"Her? So in your case was a girl as well?" Issei questioned.

"Well, in the end, those people have their reasons for being like that. One must try to understand them, instead of acting offended." Tatsumi stated, ignoring the question.

"Tatsumi-san, you sounded so wise." The family`s female bishop said.

"Well, I…" The boy started speaking, but stopped when the sound of someone falling echoed in everyone`s ears.

"What was that?" The blue-haired knight questioned, getting up from her seat.

"It came from above." Akeno noted.

"Then it must be…" Issei started, but didn`t finish, waiting for someone else to confirm it.

"...from Koneko`s room." Tatsumi said for his stepbrother and got up as soon as possible and ran out of the kitchen.

In less than a minute, he was already there, shortly followed by the other pawn, the queen and their master. The pure-blooded devil opened the door and the four saw the white-haired rook lying on the ground unconscious. She wore white shorts and white T-shirt and black gloves with a mark of orange paw per hand.

"Koneko." Rias called, running next to her servant.

"What in the world has happened?" Issei curiously asked as he did the same.

"It seems she overworked herself during training." The other pawn answered. "She has being doing it secretly for the past four days. Do not tell me that you haven`t noticed."

"Ise, take her to the bed." The heiress of the Gremory family said to the teen. "Akeno, bring a cold face-towel. Tatsumi, do you think you can carry Koneko on the way?"

"No problem." The boy replied.

"Okay, we have to be at the train station soon, so get ready." The crimson-haired devil stated.

Thirty minutes later, the group was ready and left the house as Issei and Tatsumi`s parents wished them safe trip and in another ten minutes they regrouped with Kiba and Gasper in front of the club house and headed towards the train station. The rook was still unconscious, so the former member of Night Raid had to carry his fellow family member, while his luggage and that of Toujou were split and given to Yuuto and Issei. Not so long after that, the whole household was in at the station, from which they had to get on a train that will lead them to their destination. Entering the place, Rias and Akeno went to check the tickets and see if there was something else they had to do, leaving the others to wait at the seats that we placed at the train stop.

It didn`t take long for the train to arrive and the group boarded it and went straight to their seats as it turned out that Rias` father arranged them to be in a personal compartment, separated from the rest of the passengers. The compartment itself was a high-class with the latest luxury, which was something Tatsumi, Xenovia, Asia and Gasper had to get used to, since neither of them ever travelled in such atmosphere. They found a place in which each fell most comfortable as the train departed from the station, marking the real beginning of the trip for the household. During the way, the devils did various things, such as playing cards or chess, talking between them, some read books like Kiba, others played games like the male bishop, third preferred to drink tea while having a chat as Rias, Akeno and Ravel. Only the white-haired rook did nothing as she still continued to be unconscious, which suggested to her friends, that she will most probably sleep during the entire way.

Currently, silence was ruling over the compartment as everyone seemed to enjoy it and wandered in their own thoughts. Everyone knew the reasons about it, but no one dared to question it or bring it to discussion.

"I can`t stand this silence anymore." Issei stated as he supported his head with a hand on his chin. "Someone say something."

"Like what, Issei-senpai?" Gasper asked his senior.

"I don`t know. Anything will do." The pawn replied back.

"It can`t be helped. You know why we are keeping this silence." His stepbrother interrupted and just like that everyone`s eyes stopped on their sleeping friend.

"Koneko-chan is sleeping, so it would be rude to wake her now." Asia said. "We must bare it until she wakes up."

"It`s understandable after she overworked herself." The former exorcist said.

And again silence moved in for another minute as a depressing atmosphere moved in, which was noticed by the devils as they felt sorry for the rook.

"I know she overworked herself, while trying to avoid something." Tatsumi broke the silence, catching his friends off guard.

"You noticed?" Rias questioned, as sign of being surprised was all over her face.

"Well, I did the same in the past, so that`s why I noticed." The boy explained.

"But what is she trying to avoid?" The other pawn asked next.

Just like that Rias, Akeno and Kiba`s faces became gloomy, that showed that they knew something the rest did not, which in turn earned them special attention from their family members.

"Guess I`ll have to tell you." The heiress of the Gremory family said and turned towards those, who didn`t know the reason. "But that will have to wait, until we arrive in the mansion."

The rest agreed and ignored the subject at hand, changing it to other one as they began the activities once again, while enjoying the ride.

Suddenly, the door to the back of the compartment opened and a hooded figure appeared from it as she looked to be running from something. A second later a man in a police-like uniform with big blue hat, came out from the door and dashed after the hooded figure. In less than a moment they were at the group as the chaser caught up to the chased one and reached his hand in order to grab the person in front of him. However, the hooded figure leaned to the right, nearly hitting the green-eyed teen, who was sitting next to the path. After that, the figure stretched a leg, tripping the chaser in the progress, who just slammed on the ground.

The chased one didn`t waste a second more and restarted her sprint forward, but stopped all of a sudden and turned right towards the unconsciousness Koneko, who was lying sleeping between to the former assassin and the crimson-haired devil. After a second, the person turned again and ran through the front door of the compartment as the moment of the leaving, Tatsumi thought he saw a what seemed to be two black tails coming from the person`s back. Unfortunately, he couldn`t take a better look as the hooded figure disappeared in the next compartment.

"What was that all about?" Issei questioned what was on everyone`s mind.

"That person didn`t have a ticket when I came to check and so he or she ran ahead." The man said while getting up. "My apologies for having you see this scene." He apologized and ran after the hooded figure, leaving the group in wonder.

"Just now, did anyone see the tails that hooded figure had?" The second pawn of the family asked, but received a questioned look from his friends. "Whatever." He said, trying to forget about what he saw.

An hour later, the devils arrived at Okayama and without wasting time headed towards the mansion at which they were supposed to stay during their holiday. Not so long after that, they reached it and immediately scattered around doing something. The household`s rook was yet to woke up, so Akeno was given the task to take her junior to a room and let on a bed to sleep.

The mansion was big somewhere around as the one of Riser Phenex with five floors and total of sixty-six rooms, from which five big rooms, which according to Rias were used for dining rooms or for conference. The style itself resembled the Gremory mansion at the Underworld, but the whole building was dusty, suggesting that it`s been long from the last clean up. There was a bathroom each floor as well as living room. Outside, the mansion was build around two hundred meters from the cliff, having a huge front yard with lots of trees, while the backyard was famous for its pool, ten meters long and five meters at deepest part.

After everyone settled, the crimson-haired devil called the rest in the living room on the floor, thinking it was finally the time for her to tell what the newer members of the family didn`t know about Koneko. And so they sat in the room and waited to hear the story, others like the queen and the blonde-haired knight seemed normal, since they appeared to know that much about their family member. Seeing everyone present, Sirzechs`s little sister let a sigh and her face took on a serious look.

"I am going to tell you this, because you have to right to know as a member of the family." She said and turned towards her servants. "Long ago, there were two nekomata sisters, a white and a black one."

"Nekomata? You mean those Japanese cat spirits?" Issei questioned.

"What happened to them?" Asia asked next.

"They lost both their parents and home at a very young age and lived together, helped each other with everything. That was until a devil took them and eventually reincarnated the older one as a member of his peerage." The pure-blooded devil stated and paused.

"Now that you mention it, I heard about a story like that." Ravel interrupted in.

"Yes, it`s a famous story in the Underwold." The heiress of the Gremory clan stated. "And so the older of the sisters got turned into a devil and lived a good life, but soon she got very powerful and as a result, killed her master."

"So she became a stray devil that way, huh?" Quarta said, reaching to the conclusion herself.

"Yes and so the devils feared that the younger sister could commit the same sin, thus they sentenced her to death. However, Onii-sama interfered and protected her from the devils. After that, he gave the younger sister to me and said to show her the purpose of living." Rias said and stopped, hinting she`s finished the story.

"So that younger sister is…" Issei wanted to ask something, but got interrupted middle way.

"…is me." A voice came from the door entrance.

Turning towards that direction, everyone saw the subject of the topic, Koneko, standing, wearing pyjamas. But what made most impression was that there were a pair of two cat-like ears on top of her head as well as a tail at the back.

"Koneko, are you alright?" The crimson-haired ruin princess asked her servant.

"I am sorry for worrying you all." The rook apologized.

Silence moved in as no one dared or knew what to say. Everyone stared at their friend and felt sorry for her. However, only one of them actually understood how the girl felt and that was none other than the former member of Night Raid. That was so, because this story reminded him of the one between one of his best friends, Akame and her sister, Kurome. It wasn`t exactly the same, but still very close to what the best assassin of his previous group and her sister had went through.

"Koneko, you don`t need to apologize." He spoke up, catching not only her, but everyone else at present. "We all have a past that we try to avoid and forget as soon as possible, but no answer will come that way. Accepting it is just one of the steps to be able to move forward."

His friends stood in amazement of what the green-eyed teen just said and couldn`t believe something so wise was coming from a boy on such age. This continued for around a minute as the latter felt the weight of every single eye staring at him as if he was the center of a show or something, not knowing that the rook wasn`t the only one so much touched by these words. Akeno, who was sitting next to Rias couldn`t help but release couple of tears, but hurried to wipe them as fast as she could.

"Did I say something I shouldn`t?" Tatsumi asked, letting out a sigh.

"You did not at all." Rias reassured the boy.

"Bro, that speech was awesome." Issei stated and started clapping, shortly followed by the rest.

"I agree with Issei-kun." Kiba stated, giving him fellow male friend his support.

"I am really moved by those words." Xenovia showed her impression next.

"Tatsumi-sama, you were so brilliant." Ravel couldn`t help, but be really impressed.

"Are you not overstating things?" The first pawn questioned the blonde-haired girl, but once again left ignored by her.

'Honestly, what did you just go through in your world, Tatsumi?' Akeno thought to herself.

"Thank you, Tatsumi-senpai!" Koneko thanked her senior and smiled at him. It was the second smile he saw from the white-haired girl for the past three months.

"Alright, let`s get ready for dinner." The heiress of the Gremory family said and just like that everyone started moving around doing something.

After dinner, the group talked a bit more before wishing good night to each other as they went to their rooms. As expected the household`s master and Asia went to sleep together with Issei as the rest in their own rooms. The former assassin`s room was on the fourth floor at the east part of the mansion, next to the bathroom of the floor. He quickly fixed himself and went to bed. The bed itself was too big for what he used to sleep in, which was something he couldn`t get used to and will remain like that in the future. Just when he was about to lay down, a knock on the door caught his attention and shortly after that the door opened, reveling the black-haired queen of the family, wearing a night-gown. It wasn`t the same as the usual one, but had the exact same effect as it, which was perfectly fitting Akeno`s buxom figure. The girl closed after her and went next to boy and lied sat right in front of him, confusing him even more. It was then when he felt the depressed look in her face and decided to ask away.

"Is something wrong?" Hyoudou questioned.

But instead of answer with words, he received a hug from the woman as her grip began tightening by the second as if she wanted to stay like that forever. Time seemed to have stopped as no sounds, no movements, absolutely nothing disturbed the silence, which was ruling over the atmosphere.

"Thank you for your kinds words today." She spoke up and it was that moment, the feeling of tears going down his right shoulder got to the boy`s senses.

Tatsumi thought about asking what she was talking about, but stopped as he remembered his little speech earlier the day when he encouraged his fellow white-haired friend. He did say everyone has a past that they try to forget and was sure Akeno had one too, yet decided to not ask about it right now and continued to remain silent. Her body warmth spread completely through his own as he began feeling extremely hot. After a minute, she pulled back, grabbed his right hand and placed it in the center of her bust.

"I want to tell you my past, so will you listen to me?" The queen questioned with a sweet voice, instantly grabbing the second pawn with it.

"Of course I will." He replied.

Hearing that, the black-haired woman pushed him on the bed, leaned over him and spoke up.

"My mother`s name was Shuri, a priestess of the Himejima clan. One day while on her duty she found a wounded person and took care of him when she learned that he was one of the leaders of the fallen angels, Baraqiel." She stopped for a second and then continued. "It was then, love birthed between them and as a result I was born in this world."

"So you are a daughter of a human and a fallen angel?" The green-eyed teen asked to see if he followed correctly.

"Yes. At first everything seemed peaceful as I lived happily with both my mother and that man. However, having both a fallen angel blood and that of a human, I was feared by many and so it came to that the Himejima clan tried to dispose of me. My mother protected me with the cost of her life, while Baraquiel was nowhere to be found until I was the only one left of us."

She stopped once again and took a look at the boy to whom she was letting everything out and knew she had to finish it, since she has started it herself. Tatsumi on the hand remained silent and listened to what was the one in front of him saying.

"As a result, I blamed Baraquiel and cursed the fallen angel blood inside of me. After that, I ran away and started traveling Japan for a year and a half, while purifying evil spirits with the skills I learned from mother. Then, I arrived at our city in which we now live and accidently saved a human that had formed a contract with the Gremory clan." Akeno said and paused once again. "Fearing that the devils will come for me, I tried to leave the town, only to be attacked by a person from the Himejima clan, but got saved by Rias and a member of her father`s peerage. They talked the person out of killing me in return I was said to never set foot on Himejima ground and serve Rias by her side."

"So that`s how you got reincarnated as a devil?" The brown-haired pawn asked and bowed his head down.

The story itself got him shaking and even though he wanted to keep strong front, it still got to him. The fact the woman in front of him had to suffer this much just because of her origin was making his anger raging from the inside. It was that moment something hit him in the head, which kind lowed the level of the upraising anger. He remembered that he knew someone with a very similar situation and past to Akeno, someone that was very precious to him in the world from where he came. Someone that helped him realize many things in life, even thought he didn`t want to admit it at first. That someone was the pink-haired girl that responded to every insult, every challenge and still survived with all her might, the one and only, Mine from Night Raid. She had to suffer on the streets and beg for someone to help her, but got nothing due to the fact that her parents were from different countries.

Meanwhile, silence continued to rule in the room and again nothing disturbed it. The two teens exchanged stares between each other and waited for the other one to make a move.

Suddenly, Tatsumi shot up and hugged the girl with all his might, yet remained cautious and didn`t tighten his grip much.

"You shouldered much more than it was needed." He spoke up, whispering to her left ear. "However, I will be your side from now on and help you the best way I can. You just need to accept the past and move forward."

"Do you promise?" Akeno weakly asked as her feelings got the better of her, after hearing the boy`s words.

"Yes, I promise." Tatsumi replied.

The two broke up the hug and just like that kissed passionately for the next one minute, after which they went to bed feeling tired from the trip earlier today. No words were spoken as Akeno was the first to fall sleep in the arms of the brown-haired boy. She had a child-like smile on her face, while happiness was ruling inside her and that was because she let all her pain and sorrow out to the man that meant everything to her now. The former assassin shortly followed his lover and fell into sleep, while thinking how cruel the world is sometimes, but even so the sun will always shine and bring the hope as long you believe in it.

**And so that was chapter 11 – The weight of the past. I am sorry it took so long, but I didn`t have the chance to write much in the past month. Anyway, nothing to special to say here, other than that I used this chapter to write the problems Koneko and Akeno had with their past, while trying to avoid it, turning more attention to Koneko, since I got couple of good ideas for what to write next. You may think it`s a bit too fast, hence neither Kuroka nor Baraqiel have made their appearance, but it`s all according to the plot, so yeah… be patient.**

**Also, to make things clear, **_**don`t**_** you think that after Tatsumi saying such words to cheer up Koneko that there will be something like TatsumixKoneko. The main couple is clearly noticeable to all with the possibilities of some TatsumixXenovia moments or TatsumixRavel and fourth option for him is there, but it`s a secret for now.**

**Thank you for sparing some time to read my work. Feedbacks are always and gladly welcomed, but please be mindful and no hate or strong language while commenting. **

**With that said, I am off for now.**

**~See you around! **


	12. Chapter 12

_**Chapter 12 – Midnight battle**_

And so midnight came and a deep silence moved in the entire mansion as everyone were sleeping and a calm and a peaceful atmosphere was ruling over the area. The clear sky and the wonderful weather outside were just completing the picture into a dream-like world in which the devils seemed to enjoy their sleep. And so it got 2 o`clock when the family`s rook, Koneko woke up due to the fact that she felt a very familiar presence coming from the opened window. She got up, dressed up and quietly left her room, which was on the second floor as well as Issei`s and Rias` room, and went downstairs, leaving the mansion afterwards.

The same time, Issei woke up due to a strange dream and got up from the bed quietly as he could in order not to wake up the crimson-haired woman and the female bishop, and went next out on the balcony of his room. Reaching it out, the boy stepped out to the parapet and began looking at the clear night sky, on which he could see a half moon and thousand of stars shinning. It was then, a voice caught his attention and he turned back just to see his master wearing her night-gown, while whipping the sleepiness from her eyes.

"Did I wake you up, President?" The boy asked with a whisper.

"What`s wrong, Ise?" She questioned, ignoring his question. "Could not sleep?"

"Yeah, I had a strange dream again." Hyoudou answered.

"I see." The head of the household said and went next to her servant. "It`s a beautiful night, isn`t it?"

"Yes, it is. Here we can see the sky much better than at home." The pawn stated. "Everything seems so peaceful."

"You are right." Rias supported his words. "Yesterday was a tiring and depressing day for everyone, especially for Koneko."

"Yeah…" He said and took a look down on the front yard.

It was then that his eyes spotted something or rather someone walking through it, making him focus his vision in order to get a more clear picture of the person, who turned out to be none other than the family`s white-haired girl.

"Speaking of which, is that not Koneko-chan down there?" The Red Dragon Emperor asked and pointed with his right hand.

Rias followed the trajectory of the her servant`s hand and looked down and recognized the figure as Koneko as well, which made her wonder what could she possibly doing there.

"It is her." The pure-blooded devil replied.

"What is she doing there?" Issei questioned.

"I don't know, but let`s go after her. There`s no need to wake up the rest for something like that." Rias suggested.

And so, they went back to the room as the boy patiently waited for his master to put on some dally cloths and the two quietly left the room together and headed downstairs with the goal to catch up to their fellow devil.

Meanwhile, outside the mansion, the rook was walking through the front yard and appeared to be looking for something or someone. She had a serious, yet worried look on her face and despite only walking, she seemed to be in panic for some reason. It had been five minutes, since Toujou left the mansion and began searching for who knows what, not knowing her seniors Issei and Rias had spotted her from their balcony.

All of a sudden, something caught her attention, to which the girl responded by turning left where that something came from and started staring that direction. Straight forward there were a lot of trees, mostly three meters tall, each with its own shape and size. Then, the same feeling reached to her and she ran ahead, disappearing in the forest-like part of the yard. Koneko continued to run and run, until a voice echoed in her ears.

"It has been a while, hasn`t it?" The voice spoke up again, making the rook lift her head to see a figure of a young woman lying on one of the trees. "Hello, Shirone."

The woman had voluptuous figure, long black hair with split bangs and hazel eyes with cat-like pupils. Her attire consisted of a black kimono, a yellow obi, a set of golden beads, and an ornately detailed headband. The kimono featured a red interior and it was opened at her shoulders, giving view to her large breasts. She had a pair of two black cat-like ears and two black tails.

"I knew it, so it was you, Kuroka-neesama." The white-haired girl said.

"I missed you, Shirone." The woman stated. "Did you miss Onee-chan as well, nya?"

"Why are you here?" Koneko questioned her sister.

"What are you saying? I came to pick you up, since I didn`t have the time to do it while running from the devils of the Underworld, nya." Kuroka explained her reasons.

The member of the Gremory household didn`t reply and just bowed her head down as memories of her past when they were together started jumping one after another. Each and every one of them was a memory she tried to forget, while trying to avoid letting her true nature as nekomata out in fear she may turn like the woman in front of her.

"Nee-sama, why did you kill your master and were you not the one, who left me alone?" The rook asked and lifted her head towards the tree again.

"One day you will understand why." The older sister answered, still keeping her playful tone to her voice.

In that time, Rias and Issei were out of the mansion and followed the trace of their friend as both of them had a worried expression on their faces. They were running, not wanting to waste any time and find Koneko as soon as possible. Just like that, a bat came from ahead and landed on the pure-blooded devil`s right shoulder and as if whispered something in her right ear. After hearing what it had to say, she nodded and it disappeared, leaving a purple smoke behind.

"My familiar has found Koneko in the west part of the yard." The crimson-haired woman explained.

"I hope she is okay." Hyoudou said. "She has being acting weird recently and preferred to be alone."

"Right now, Koneko is having troubles facing her past and own existence." Rias stated. "This is a hurdle she must overcome herself. Let`s hurry." She said and two continued to run after Toujou.

Back in the mansion, Tatsumi woke up as a need to go the bathroom came to him all of a sudden. He carefully got up, while trying his best not to wake Akeno, who was sleeping next to him with a smile on her face, hinting that she must be having a good dream. After doing so, the boy putted on some cloths, black jeans and a red T-shirt and left the room and headed towards his destination, which took him not more than two minutes to finish his work. Reaching the door of his room, he reached his right hand for the handle, but stopped as the desire for sleep left him completely. Noticing it, the pawn decided to go outside and get some fresh air, while walking around the front yard, so he quietly went downstairs and left the mansion as well.

In about three minutes, the green-eyed teen was in the middle of the front yard and stopped to take a look at the night sky. Then, something caught his attention from the west, making him that direction.

"Just now… That was a really dangerous presence." He said in a low tone. "Why has it to be now of all times? And I even gave Incursio to Azazel to research it a bit two days ago." He cursed and headed towards the direction from which the danger came.

Meanwhile, Koneko and Kuroka were continuing to look at each other and like so far the rook asked something and the bishop answered the question, still keeping her playful character. But that didn`t affect their patience as neither of them showed signs of being annoyed, bored or nervous. And again, the younger sister asked something.

"Nee-sama, how did you find this place?" Toujou asked, putting up a bit more serious look on her face.

"Don`t give Onee-chan that scary face." The black-haired woman replied pretending to be scared. "I just did what I do best and found it on my own, so we can be together again, nya."

"I don`t want to go back with you and leave my friends behind." The member of the Gremory household replied, bowing her head again.

"Shirone, I have been lonely too, you know?" The older woman said and moved into a sitting position.

In the same time, Rias and Issei were hiding behind a tree that was about four meters away from the two sisters and eavesdropped on their conversation, without doing anything.

"Kuroka!" The pure-blooded devil whispered, recognizing the woman.

"Could it be that cat woman is Koneko`s?" The pawn asked in a whisper as well.

"Yes, it`s her older sister." She replied back.

Suddenly, a figure of someone came from behind the tree on which the stray devil was sitting and stepped forward. It was a young man, who had short, black hair and wore an ancient Chinese armor.

"Hey, Kuroka!" He spoke up and turned towards the woman.

"What is it, Bikou?" She asked questioned, addressing him by name as well.

"Are you going to ignore the ones, who are eavesdropping on your conversation?" The man asked, blowing the two devils cover, which surprised Rias.

Seeing that it is useless to hide, the heiress of the Gremory family appeared from behind the tree and headed towards her white-haired servant, instantly followed by Hyoudou. The rook turned around, saw her seniors and ejaculated in surprise.

"President, Issei-senpai!" She called out.

"Oh my, look who do we have here, nya." Her sister said, seeing the crimson-haired devil.

"Kuroka, Koneko is a member of my household. I won`t let you take her." Rias stated, while walking.

"My my, what are you saying?" The woman responded with a question. "That`s my little sister we are talking about. I won`t give her to high-class devil like you."

Just like that, the both parties meet each other with Koneko in the middle and a intense feeling filled the atmosphere.

"Hey, monkey man, where`s Vali?" Hyoudou asked, looking at the man.

"He`s here and there." Bikou answered with a slight laugh.

"You know that boy?" The stray devil asked the man, turning towards him.

"Yup, that`s the Red Dragon Emperor." The man replied.

"Really?" So that`s the breasts loving boy that managed to stand up to Vali?" Kuroka questioned, mockingly.

"What?" Issei roared back, letting anger take the better of him.

However, she didn`t reply and simply jumped down next to the man, got up and yawned.

"Let`s get this over with fast, shall we, nya." The bishop said to her friend.

Bikou didn`t answer and instead of that dashed forward and when he was close enough, swung his golden staff at the pawn, surprising not only him, but Rias and Koneko as well. Fortunately, Hyoudou was able to lean to the left, thus avoiding being hit in the progress.

"Nice reaction." The man commented.

"Boosted Gear!" The brown-haired devil shouted and his left hand transformed in that of a dragon.

"This will be fun." His opponent said and prepared for fight. "Entertain me, Red Dragon Emperor."

Suddenly, his staff extended forward, which he aimed at the boy in an average speed. Seeing the threat, Issei jumped to the right this time, rolled on the ground and got up as quickly as he could.

"Boost!" Ddraig`s voice came out from the dragon hand.

"What`s wrong, why don`t you use your Balance Breaker or is that you can`t summon it on your own?" Bikou said and dashed at his target again.

"Ise!" The pure-blooded devil called shouted and ran after her servant.

Unfortunately, she got stopped when a blue blast of energy caught her attention, while going straight at her. This made the devil stop and to point her right hand forward, creating a magical circle, with the help of which, she blocked the attack.

"Your opponent will be me, nya." Kuroka stated.

'The situation is not going good.' The crimson-haired noted to herself. 'I want to avoid fighting Koneko`s sister in front of her, but what should I do now?'

Rias putted on more serious look on her face and gathered demonic energy in both of her hands and then launched it at the enemy in an incredible speed. The stray devil on the other hand didn`t flinch at all and just like that disappeared, dodging the charge in the progress, leaving the heiress of the Gremory family surprised. And in a second later, she reappeared next to her right and sent a blast of energy by combining both her Senjutsu and Youjutsu.

The latter realized that there wasn`t enough to time to block, so she made a jump backwards, but for her bad luck, she landed with her back facing the ground. Pain escape the woman`s lips as she tried to instantly get up. Noticing that, the black-haired devil prepared to fire another blast of energy, but got interrupted when she saw the Red Dragon Emperor dashing at her.

"Why you…" He screamed and aimed a punch with his left hand at her head.

However, Kuroka remained calm and simply disappeared again, leaving the boy empty handed as he started turning around in order to find her, not noticing that this action of his left him wide open to attack. That was shown when Bikou appeared before him and swung his staff directly in his stomach, landing a hit, the impact of which sent the pawn literally flying back. Unfortunately the bad news for the boy didn`t stop there as a blue blast of energy came from the front all of a sudden and slammed in his body, sending him crashing on the ground.

"Ise!" Rias shouted, while running to her servant.

"You are wide open." The stray devil`s voice caught her attention as she looked at the opponent.

Just like that, a sharp pain crossed her entire body and she simply fell on her knees, followed by Koneko, who seemed to be having the same problems. The two females felt their bodies unable to move even a muscle as if they were paralyzed by something.

"President, Koneko-chan!" Issei called out while getting up.

It was then, the three devils noticed something like purple fog floating in the air as it got thicker and thicker by the minute and by that the pain in the Rias and Koneko`s bodies become stronger, but Hyoudou appeared to be unaffected by it.

"What`s this?" The boy questioned.

"That`s my poisonous mist. It`s highly effective against devils, fallen angels and angels alike." Kuroka explained calmly. "However, it seems to be useless against dragons."

"You…" The brown-haired male tried to curse, but got interrupted by the bishop.

"Don`t worry, I lowered its strength, so it shouldn`t be enough to kill them, nya. Now, give me back my sister and I will spare your lives." She demanded by pointing at the household`s rook.

"Like hell I will do that." Issei shouted back.

The black-haired woman didn`t replay and instead of that created another blue ball of magic energy and threw it at the Red Dragon Emperor, who unfortunately failed to react it time and so the attack found its target. After the impact, the boy`s body began shaking and nearly fell on the ground, but somehow managed to regain his balance.

"Ise!" Rias shouted in panic, while watching her precious servant getting beat up.

"What a pathetic sight." The bishop`s voice echoed in the devils ears. "You fought equal against Vali with something like that?" She continued, addressing towards the pawn.

"Issei-senpai, please stop this. I will go with Kuroka-neesama, so you don`t need to get hurt anymore." Koneko spoke up with the hope to save her friends. "I don`t want to see neither you nor the President die, so please…" The rook began to beg out of fear, but got interrupted.

"I won`t." Hyoudou cut her off. "If you don`t want to go willingly, then I will protect you, because I refuse to abandon a friend in need."

Hearing that, Toujou`s eyes widened due to her senior`s words. She couldn`t believe someone was willing to go so far just for someone like her. This shocked her enough that she failed to realize when exactly tears started rolling down her face.

"Ise is right." Their master supported her servant by hugging the white-haired girl from behind. "We may not be connected by blood, but still we are a family and as one will always help each other."

Silence moved in for a moment, until the bishop laugher broke it roughly as it echoed in the area around, earning herself their attention.

"What do you possibly know? None of you understand Shirone as I do. I can teach her how to control her own power, something you can`t possibly hope to achieve, nya." Kuroka said proudly.

"Screw your power-thing." Issei roared back. "Koneko-chan is my precious friend and I won`t let you have her."

This appeared to hit a nerve in the stray devil as her smile fell from her face, replaced by a serious and angry one, but it didn`t take long for her to smile deviously.

"Enough, you can die now, nya!" She said and prepared to fire another energy blast.

"Kuroka, above!" Bikou, who had been watching this whole time called out to his friend.

The woman lifted her head just in time to see the figure of someone coming right down on her from the air in incredible speed, so she had to stop the attack and dodge by disappeared at the last possible moment, before that someone landed on the ground. In less than a second, she reappeared next to her comrade and immediately shot a look to see, who interrupted her.

Right before them stood Tatsumi, who wore a dead serious expression on his face as if he was going to eat them just by stare alone. His stance showed them that he was ready to fight any time.

'Strange, I didn`t notice his presence despite how good I am in Senjutsu and Youjutsu. And on top of that, he isn`t affected by my poisonous mist.' The bishop noted to herself. 'What is he?'

"Bro!" Issei called out, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Tatsumi-senpai!" Koneko did the same, equally relieved to see her senior.

"Well done on the speeches, Issei. Mentally you won this battle." The boy spoke up, referring to Hyoudou.

"So another one showed up?" The stray devil interrupted the mood between the four. "This is getting annoying, nya." She added, yet keeping a smile on her face.

"Well, if that`s not one of the devils I fought at Riser Phenex`s mansion." The man stated.

"Now that you mention, he was with the group that fought with us then and killed Fernir."The black-haired woman noted, showing signs of being interested.

Tatsumi didn`t reply immediately and instead took a look at the two opponents, having recognized the man already, he turned more attention to Koneko`s sister, when her black tails left him bigger impression.

"And you are the one that ran from that policemen in the train yesterday, are you not? So you were following us this whole time?" The pawn questioned, catching the woman of guard as well his friends.

"W-What?" Stunned Issei evoked.

"So you noticed that it was me? That`s pretty impressive, nya." The stray devil commented. "My name is Kuroka and this here is Bikou."

"So are you going to fight us bare handed? Where`s your sword?" The man asked, mockingly, noticing the boy being unarmed. "Still, you intend to fight both of us…"

The opponent tried to continue mocking, not paying much to what was happening around and that was what the former assassin awaited. In the spun of a moment, he was in front of the man and landed a quick and powerful fist in his face, sending him two meters back, crashing on the ground.

"When did he…" The bishop said in surprise, turning towards the boy.

The green-eyed teen decided not to waste time and kneeled and swung his right leg at the woman`s legs, attempting to trip her in the process, but Koneko`s sister reacted by disappearing in time. Noticing it, Tatsumi got up in a standing position and let out a sigh, white trying to figure and analyze what he just saw. It was then, the boy remembered that the Prime Minister`s son had a Imperial Arms that allowed him to manipulate space as he was able to see if for a moment, while Lubbock was fighting him.

"Space manipulation, huh?" He spoke up, defining the used spell.

"Oh my, you noticed already?" Kuroka called from the left. "You are truly an interesting one, nya."

Suddenly, Bikou came from the front, while dashing at the pawn. Closing in the distance, the man decided to attack first and swung his staff at the opponent`s head, but got surprised when the wielder of Incursio ducked under it with an ease. After that he grabbed the staff with his hands and tossed the enemy over his head along with it. The man felt inhuman straight pulling his body, until his hand slipped from the staff and he got thrown like a ball.

Fortunately for Vali`s friend, he managed to flip in the air and land on his leg and instantly ran at the boy, who seeing him moved the staff into his right hand and prepared to strike, but with his left leg a bit behind the other one. This made the man think that he will attack with the weapon.

"I can read your…" Bikou shouted, while ducking in advance, thinking he has avoided the danger.

However, he soon realized his mistake as the pawn simply shot his left knee in the opponent`s chin, the impact of which pushed the man a meter back. Unfortunately for him, Tatsumi wasn`t done and that was proved when he swung the staff in the opponent`s face, sending him down on the ground.

"Awesome." Issei commented, while watching the battle in front of him and his friends.

"Just who and what in the world are you?" Kuroka interrupted, referring to former assassin.

"I am Rias Gremory`s servant, that`s all." The teen humbly replied.

"And that was enough to beat Bikou?" The woman continued to ask with a playful voice.

"I just got a mental picture of his movements while fighting him at the Phenex mansion. That was more than enough." Hyoudou explained. "The dangerous one here is you, since the killing intent I sensed is coming from none other, but you." He added, turning towards the woman.

"Oh my, flirting are we." The bishop said and giggled. "I am moved, nya."

Just like that, she disappeared again and after a second reappeared, but there were around twenty copies of her, which surrounded him and his friend in a circle.

"You are joking, right?" The Red Dragon Emperor said. "Which one is the real?"

"So that`s what one can do when mastered both Senjutsu and Youjutsu?" Rias stated. "Impressive."

The former assassin on other hand remained calm and didn`t let the spell make him panic. He closed his eyes, abstracted himself from everything else and started thinking or rather sensing. It was clear to the boy that it was impossible to indentify the real one by simply watching for her movements and he knew he had to rely on something else.

Suddenly, the pawn opened his eyes turned left and just like threw the staff forward, figuring he either guessed it right or decided to bet on luck alone. For everyone`s surprise it turned out that he found the right one, which was shown when Kuroka had to lean to the right to avoid being hit, while this broke up the spell. Seeing that, she tried to turn forward and counterattack, but was too late as the feeling of a leg hitting in her stomach surfaced to her. The force was so strong that it made her spill some blood, after which she flew three meters until she hammered on the ground.

"Unbelievable." Issei couldn`t help, but comment his stepbrother`s actions.

"He saw through her spell." Ddraig spoke up from the boy`s left hand.

"My my, such a violent boy you are." Kuroka commented, while getting up. "But I can`t say I dislike guys who aren`t afraid to fight against a lady, nya."

"Now that really hurt." Bikou`s voice caught their attention as the man slowly got up on his legs. "I even passed out for a moment." After which, he went next to his partner, who was next to his staff and grabbed it.

"It`s been fun, but we have to go now, nya." The stray devil said to the boy and just like that disappeared again.

Tatsumi remained unmoving, since the man was standing and that was making things harder for him. He knew even the slightest opening can be lethal when fighting formidable opponents and that was something he would never forget.

Suddenly, the black-haired woman reappeared behind her little sister, grabbed her and vanished again, reappearing back next to her partner. He took the hint and stabbed his staff in the ground. Just like that a magical appeared and the area around began glowing as they were about to teleport.

'Damn, I got carried away in fighting that I forget their real goal.' The former assassin cursed in his mind and ran towards them as fast as he could.

"No good, we got tricked." Rias commented, watching how Kuroka was able to disappear with her sister.

However, the green-eyed teen had something else in mind and as he managed to reach the opponents in time. Then, he didn`t waste a second and jumped forward and pushed Koneko out of the magical circle and crashed on the ground as the teleportation was fact, leaving his friends stunned behind.

"Koneko!" The pure-blooded devil called the rook and went next to her. "Are you alright?" She asked the girl, but received only a nod with head.

"What did just happen?" Hyoudou questioned, catching their attention.

"You can say Tatsumi went with Kuroka in Koneko`s stead." Their master answered.

"So in other words, Bro will most probably be taken to Vali." The pawn stated. "Hey, Ddraig, do you have any idea where that bastard might be."

"Impossible!" The Red Dragon Emperor replied. "Albion could be anywhere and I can only sense him when he is really close."

"There`s nothing we can do, but believe in Tatsumi. He is capable of taking care of himself, so I am sure we will see him again." The heiress of the Gremory family said and got up. "Let`s go back."

And so, the three devils headed back to the mansion as the hour was almost 4 o`clock in the morning, but it was still dark. Right now, they could only hope for safe being of their brown-haired friend.

Meanwhile, Tatsumi felt like they arrived as he felt his body crashing on the ground as he finally landed from that jump, which he made before teleporting. He got up slowly and saw couple of rocks in front of him and the ground was a rocky one as well. It was that moment, the boy remembered about the opponents and turned around to see a sitting on the ground the woman, not believing what happened. The man on the other hand was standing and stared at him with a puzzled face, which suggested that he didn`t have any ideas what to do now.

Suddenly, a voice caught their attention, making them turn right to see a young man with dark silver hair and ice blue eyes. He wore a dark green V-neck shirt with a high-collared black leather jacket over it. He also wore burgundy jeans with a silver chain drooping down over them and black leather chaps with three bands encircling his right calf, and black shoes with black buckles.

That one was none other than Vali Lucifer, just like he met him the first time, shortly after getting sent into this world by 'The Great Red'.

"It took you longer than I thought." He said to his friends, still not looking at the boy, who was behind a rock.

"We had a little trouble and ended up fighting with the Gremory group." Bikou replied.

"Was it Hyoudou Issei, huh?" The White Dragon Emperor questioned, guessing that it must be his arch rival that they had faced.

"You can say so and you can`t." The man said, scratching the back of his head.

"What do you mean?" Lucifer asked, but his friend didn`t answer and instead pointed to the former assassin.

The boy followed Bikou`s hand and stepped forward, enough to spot the pawn as his face got a curious look.

"Kuroka, I thought you had a younger sister, not a brother." Vali said and turned towards the stray devil.

"Yeah, but that boy got in the way, nya. Just when we were about to teleport with my sister, he pushed her aside and literally took her place." The bishop explained.

Lucifer didn`t say anything and went closer to the former assassin when he remembered meeting the latter in front of his arch rival`s house and spoke up.

"It`s been a while." The dark silver-haired man greeted with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, about three months or so..." The former member of Night Raid replied back.

"How`s Hyoudou Issei doing?" Vali questioned, showing interest in his rival`s growth.

"Well, you know him, getting surrounded by beautiful girls all the time. So how do you think he`s doing?" The pawn replied, adding some humor.

"So what are going to do with him?" Bikou interrupted in. "Should we send him back?"

Silence moved in as the brown-haired boy felt the weight of the eyes staring at him as well as his position in this situation, which wasn`t didn`t work much in his favor and he knew it really good. After all it wasn`t his first time being in the enemy`s camp as he remembered when he met Esdeath on that tournament and the decision of the woman to take him as her lover. That gave him the chance to see the inside of the Empire from where all the corruption originated as he was able to get out on his own. The next time inside the Empire`s palace wasn`t that much good for him, due to the fact that he was going to executed in public, but got saved by his fellow Night Raid members.

Suddenly, Vali`s voice brought him back to reality and that made him turned him towards them.

"I decided. We will take him with us." The White Dragon Emperor stated, surprising his friends as well as him.

After all, Hyoudou expected to be either disposed off or be left behind, while they moved to another location. Those were actions that were common for the world from where he came from, so it indeed took him by a surprise.

"Are you serious?" The other man asked.

"Yeah, beside we might get to see what Rias Gremory servants are like. We will bring him with us to the base where it will be discussed in details." Lucifer explained. "Kuroka, you are in charge of the guy."

"Why do you choose me? It`s unfair, nya." The woman ejaculated, showing her disagreement.

"It was you, who went to bring your sister in the first place that it led to this outcome." Vali said. "At least take responsibility. Now tie him up."

"Fine then, nya." The bishop replied and went to the boy, kneeled and grabbed his hands together.

Just like that a white-like chain thing appeared and tied itself around the pawn`s hands.

"What`s your name?" Vali asked, turning towards the brown-haired devil.

"Tatsumi." The green-eyed teen replied shortly.

The dark silver-haired boy didn`t say anything and just lead the way as they began moving into a column formation with Tatsumi walking right behind Bikou, followed by Kuroka, who had to watch over him if he tried to do something. And so, the former assassin began another chapter of his life in this new world and just like in the previous one, things here flowed quite dynamic for him as one more adventure was set and waited to be completed by the brown-haired boy.

**Yaay, another chapter is done in my story "Second Life". The most noticeable things in this one were Kuroka`s appearance and Tatsumi getting inside Vali team`s camp as I think that what most of you thought as well as Tatsumi being strong without Incursio. I know most of you prefer seeing him fighting, while wearing the demon armor, but I wanted to show his true potential and that he can fight without his Sacred Gear. Still don`t worry, there will others moments when he uses Incursio, so please be patient. **

**Anyways, I wanted to tell that an interesting character is about to make his/her appearance very soon, but I am leaving to you to see if you can find out, without me telling it or before the character appears. **

**So, I guess that`s what I wanted to say for now. Thanks for giving from free time to read my work. As always, feedbacks are welcomed, but please with no hate, okay? Critiques are welcomed as well, but such as those referring to my grammar, character style, spelling mistakes and such.**

**Once again, thank you for reading. I am wishing you good day or night, depending on where are you. **

**See you around! **


	13. Chapter 13

_**Chapter 13 – True intentions**_

It was around 9 o`clock in the morning after the night of the battle between the Gremory devils and the members of Vali team, Kuroka and Bikou. The weather outside started off good for the day, but it suddenly got cloudy and dark around an hour ago as the news reported about a storm passing by the area in which they were. All that boosted the dark and gloomy atmosphere for the pure-blooded devil and her rook and pawn as each of them thought their mistake was what led to the current situation. There were still no news from the former assassin and although they knew he could take care of himself, the feeling of worry was getting slowly and painfully in them. The others were yet to wake up, while the three failed to fall asleep again and decided to wait for their friends in the living room of the first floor.

Suddenly, one of the three doors in the room opened from where came out the family`s male knight and the two bishops, while having an expression that suggested that it was a good sleep for them. In less than a minute, the other door opened, revealing the other knight along with Riser`s little sister.

"Oh, you are up already?" Quarta asked, seeing her friends.

"Good Morning!" The others behind her greeted.

"Good Morning!" Rias greeted as well and quickly put a smile on her face as if she tried to avoid getting them worried right from the morning.

"Did you sleep well?" Yuuto questioned, taking a seat on one of the couches.

"We could have better." Hyoudou replied and yawned.

"That`s too bad, Issei-san." Asia stated, showing her concern.

"When did you wake up?" Gasper asked next.

"Well…" The pawn tried to explain when the door to the left opened as Akeno came from it.

"Good Morning!" The black-haired woman greeted, instantly being greeted by her friends as well.

After that, she took a look at the devils and something made her bigger impression as she failed to find the second pawn of the household.

"Where`s Tatsumi?" The queen finally asked.

"He must be sleeping at the moment. Leave him be." Xenovia said.

"No he isn`t. I went to sleep with him this night and when I woke up he wasn`t there." Himejima explained. "I though he must be with you."

"I haven`t seen him either." Kiba stated.

"Well, you see…" Issei tried to explain, but got interrupted again.

Just like that, a green magical circle appeared on the floor, catching the devils attention as the light slowly faded, revealing the leader of the fallen angel standing wearing his suit as usual and smiling like always.

"Hey, you are all up this early in the morning?" The man questioned with a tone of humor in his voice.

"Azazel-sensei!" Hyoudou called out "What are you doing here? I thought you had some urgent work at Grigori."

"I finished it yesterday, so I decided to come and give Tatsumi`s weapon to him." The fallen angel stated and lifted his left hand in which he held Incursio`s key. "It`s quite interesting weapon if you ask me."

"I am afraid that might have to wait for a while." The pawn said, earning special from the others, except for his master and the rook.

"What do you mean by that, Issei-senpai?" Gasper questioned his senior.

Silence moved in for a minute as an those who knew the reason, found themselves in an awkward situation, mostly the brown-haired boy, until Rias decided that there`s no meaning in keeping it in a secret at this point.

"The true is that we woke up really early around 2 o`clock at midnight, some of due to strange dreams, other due their own reasons." She said and turned towards Koneko.

"Did you say 2 o`clock?" Ravel evoked. "That`s too early."

"Whatever, please continue." Azazel urged to the heiress of the Gremory family to talk.

"Then, I and Ise saw Koneko walking outside alone as if she was searching for something. So we followed her to the west part of the front yard where we met her sister, Kuroka. She came to take Koneko back, so we fought against her and that friend of Vali, Bikou." She paused for a while, saw how everyone was listening carefully and continued. "During the battle, they managed to gain the upper hand and were about to decide the outcome of it, but then Tatsumi appeared and helped us take the advantage."

"Yeah, he owned them even without his weapon." Issei added.

"So you were saved by Tatsumi-kun?" Kiba asked, reaching to the conclusion.

"Yeah… you can say so." Hyoudou replied, scratching the back of his head.

"Anyways, Kuroka and Bikou tried to trick us and snuck behind Koneko and attempted to teleport with her, but Tatsumi interfered once again and pushed Koneko away from the magical circle, while literally taking her place in it." The crimson-haired devil explained.

"So in other words, that boy is now with Vali and his team." Azazel commented.

"Shortly put, yes." Rias replied.

"So that`s what happened." The queen said and bowed her head down.

Silence moved in again for around a minute as no one dared to say or do anything, just stood or sat quietly and looked at each other. That was until the rook went in front of Himejima and just like bowed before her.

"I am sorry, Akeno-senpai, everyone." She spoke up, catching their attention. "If I wasn`t hesitating that much, Tatsumi-senpai would be with us now."

"Koneko, I told you not blame yourself for that. I am the one, who led to things as they are now. If I stood like a true master, maybe we could have avoided it." The household`s master replied, trying to take the blame.

"I feel bad too, since I got beaten up so fast." Issei added.

"So what are we going to do now?" Xenovia asked with a curious face.

"I am afraid we can`t do much, since there`s no telling where Vali could be right now." Azazel replied. "Knowing him, I am sure Tatsumi will be fine."

"I hope you are right." The crimson-haired woman said with hands crossed under her bust.

"What are you going to do with Tatsumi-kun`s weapon?" Kiba questioned.

"Well, I guess I am going to leave it here, so someone can give it to him when he returns." The fallen angel explained.

"I will take it then." Akeno volunteered.

The man nodded with head and gave it to the daughter of his good friend, Baraqiel, who grabbed the sword with her two hands.

"Then, I will be going now." He said and just like that disappeared via magical circle.

Meanwhile, Tatsumi was enjoying a short break, after whole six hours of walking as it was the second time they stopped since starting. He still had no idea neither where they were at the moment nor where are they heading, just simply followed the three. The path so far was all rocky, without the slightest sign of grass or water, suggesting to the boy that it must be some kind of mountain or something like that. His companions preferred to keep him tied with the chains for now that gave of the 'we don`t trust you yet' vibe and he understood that completely. They mostly talked between each other and hardly paid any attention to the boy, while he was having the chance to observe their behavior.

Currently, Vali was somewhere ahead talking with Bikou about something and left Kuroka to watch over the former assassin, reminding her that she was responsible for what happened and it is her way to make up for the mess they were in. The bishop was sitting on a stone and stared at the sky and the boy rested with closed eyes, yet being awake. Suddenly, the woman`s voice echoed in his ears, making him open his eyes and look at her.

"This is so boring. That Vali! What does he think putting me in charge of watching a boy, while he wanders around, nya?" The stray devil complained with an annoyed look on her face.

In fact, she changed her smiling face and playful character ever since they teleported and it looked like that the failed mission to bring Koneko back with her was the cause of it. The pawn somewhat felt guilty for what he did, but even so continued to keep his guard up, because the only danger Tatsumi sensed came from the woman. The boy didn`t answer and just let out a sigh, catching her attention.

"What are you sighing for?" The bishop asked in annoyance.

"I am just sighing, that`s all." The brown-haired teen answered.

"Let me remind you that it`s all your fault for getting stuck with us." Kuroka said.

"I know." He replied and turned his head to the right. "I am well aware of it without you telling me."

"Anyways, thanks to you I failed to take my sister again, nya." She stated.

"I am sorry about that, but your methods were a bit too rough." The green-eyed teen returned.

"What is Shirone to you?" The stray devil questioned.

"She is a fellow family member and precious friend." Hyoudou explained, turning back to her direction.

"So you don`t have any other feelings towards her?" The woman asked again as his eyes shortly widened.

"Even if I had, you would still not like it." Tatsumi returned coldly. "In God`s…" He tried to pray, but as soon as he began a sharp pain ran through his head, making him to stop. 'Crap, I forgot again.'

Hearing that, Kuroka could not help, but giggle at what the boy said and it wasn`t to mock him. She actually liked what he said and thought of it as funny enough to bring back the smile on her face. The bishop continued laughing for a minute, while the pawn stared at her calm and collected.

"You really are interesting after all, nya." She replied, finally stopping the laugher.

All of a sudden, the sound of footsteps caught their attention as they turned towards the direction and saw Vali and Bikou standing, hinting that the break must be reaching its end and more walking awaited.

"Having fun, huh?" The White Dragon Emperor asked, but received no answer in return. "Let`s go. The base is about another hour walk from here."

And so, the four continued their way to the so called base and just like till now, the two men walked in front, while Tatsumi had to move right in front of the stray devil. In about an hour, they really reached their destination like the dark silver-haired boy said. It wasn`t something very impressive, just an ordinary building on three floors and it looked neither too old nor too new, reminding the boy of the buildings back in the Empire.

Entering it, the four headed straight for the second floor where there was only one room with a large wooden door. Vali opened and went in, followed by the rest as the former assassin didn`t waste any time and took a full look around in order to check the surroundings. The room was average at height and length with couple of chairs, one sofa, one table and another smaller door in the opposite part of it as well as three windows in the east side of the premise.

Just like that, the other door opened and from it came out a man, shortly followed by a little girl, somewhere around Koneko`s age. She had shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes and wore a sorceress-like dress with a huge blue hat with a black bow and yellow stars and matching cape with pink flowers and a white interior.

The man had matching blonde hair and blue eyes like the girl. His attire consisted of black suit with white shirt under it and red tie, finished with black shoes. He also wore glasses.

"Welcome back, everyone!" The man greeted.

"Hi!" The girl did the same.

It was then, they noticed the presence of the pawn and surprised look formed on their faces.

"Vali, who`s that boy?" The blonde-haired man asked.

"Kuroka went to take her sister back and came with him instead." Bikou replied.

"I didn`t bring him with me, he came on his own by jumping in the magical circle." The bishop defended quickly.

"Stop it, you two. Fight somewhere else." The White Dragon Emperor interrupted in the argument. "So that`s what happened. His name is Tatsumi, a servant of Rias Gremory."

"Tatsumi-sama! It`s such a nice name." The girl stated as the 'sama' hammered in the pawn`s head.

'That 'sama' again… Leaving Ravel aside, this is getting annoying.' The green-eyed teen thought to himself.

"It`s pleasure to meet you, Tatsumi. My name is Arthur Pendragon." The man introduced himself and bowed.

"And I am Le Fay Pendragon." The girl followed.

"So you are siblings?" Hyoudou questioned.

"That`s correct." The blonde-haired man answered.

"Sorry to be the one to push things, but what are we going to do with this guy?" Bikou asked, breaking the 'nice to meet you' atmosphere in the process.

Silence moved in for around two minutes as no one moved or sai\d anything, the team just stared at their guest and were thinking on a solution for the problem. The boy remained calm and looked at everyone, while trying to understand what they are thinking.

"If you are going to abandon me somewhere, at least tell me where are we right now, so I can find my way back home." The former member of Night Raid spoke up, surprising everyone as if he read their minds.

"Damn, did he read our minds or something?" Bikou asked.

"It`s written all over your faces." Tatsumi replied casually.

Suddenly, Vali started laughing catching his friends` attention and that of the pawn as he continued to do so for the next minute as if something really funny was said. Slowly his laugher calmed down, until he finally stopped and looked at the guest.

"We got predictable, huh?" The human, devil hybrid evoked. "Then, how about the following…" He paused and seeing the boy paying attention, continued. "…help us with a certain job and we will take you back to your household."

"Hey, are you serious, Vali?" Bikou questioned his friend.

"You said he stood up against both you and Kuroka alone, so we his skills could be of good use to us." The White Dragon Emperor stated and took a seat on the couch.

"So in other words, you want me to help Khaos Brigade, is that what you want to say?" The former assassin questioned.

"Not quite." The dark silver-haired teen replied. "It is true that we are allied with the guys from Khaos Brigade, but we don`t have the same interests as them."

"Then, why did you attack Riser Phenex and his peerage about three months ago?" Tatsumi asked with a louder voice.

"Back then, the higher ups from Khaos Brigade were right at our necks, so we had to pretend to follow their commands in order for them not to find out our plan." Lucifer explained.

"What plan?" The green-eyed devil shot a question again.

"That`s the thing he asked you to help us out with." Arthur interrupted. "I am afraid that we can`t tell you, unless you agree to help us."

"You are free to refuse, but then we will be forced to abandon you somewhere, just like you guessed." Vali said. "If it comes to that, we won`t tell you neither where is this place nor how to find your way."

Silence moved once again as the brown-haired boy felt the weight of every single eye staring at him again. He was well aware his helpless position in this situation and that he didn`t have much of a choice to pick up from. The options pretty much were 'help us and we will help you' or 'you lose' and he wasn`t the one to determine the conditions. The team on other hand was watching quietly as they all found a place to seat on, leaving only the latter standing.

"Fine then, I`ll do it." The boy spoke up, announcing his decision.

"Welcome on board, even if it is for a short time." The White Dragon Emperor said and nodded to Kuroka.

Just like that, the chains around his hands disappeared and he felt the pressure slowly fading away and let out a sigh of relief. Seeing that, the silver-haired man got from the couch and headed at the door from which they came. Reaching it, he stopped and spoke again.

"Today is free for everyone, so do as you wish for the time being." Vali said, after that he left the room.

"Hey, Kuroka-sama, let`s go to the lake down the road." Le Fay`s voice caught his attention, making him turn towards the blonde-haired girl.

"That`s a great idea." The bishop replied. "I could use some fresh air."

"Did you say there`s a lake around this place?" Hyoudou questioned the younger female.

"Yes, it`s about in ten minutes walk on the path behind this house." Arthur explained instead of his sister.

"If that`s the case, I could use a little break at the lake too." The green-eyed teen stated.

"Yay!" Le Fay shouted in happiness and jumped from the couch on which she was sitting. "I will bring some food for us to eat." The girl added and went through the smaller door.

And so, the younger of the Pendragons took some food and together with Kuroka and Tatsumi headed towards the lake. Walking on the path, the area was slowly changing as many trees appeared and the road itself was mainly covered in grass as if they were stepping in entire different environment than the one at the house. When they arrived, the two females found a good place to seat or lay, like it was the case with the stray devil, while the boy used this chance to swim in the lake. The feeling that the others from his household most probably were swimming in the sea or in the pool left a bitter taste in his mouth as it prolonged the so awaited first holiday in this world. Even so, he was thankful for this opportunity, because the life he had in the Empire tough him to be satisfied with the smallest things at present.

The two girls sat quietly on the grace and ate the food that they had brought with them, which mostly the case with Le Fay. The magician showed great appetite, unlike her female friend, who preferred lying down like a cat and stare at the sky, taking a bite from time to time.

After ten more minutes, the boy got out of the water and headed straight behind a nearby to the lake tree where he had left his T-Shirt. Reaching it, he lied down on the grass and started looking at the sky, while waiting to dry up. This continued for a short period of time, until the faces of the two females leaned over his, which made the boy raise an eyebrow.

"What is it?" He questioned with an eye watching per girl.

"Tatsumi-sama, are you not hungry?" Le Fay asked away.

"Thanks, but it`s against my ways to eat right after I get out of the water." The green-eyed teen stated. "Besides, I can go without eating for now."

"You are too cold." Kuroka said and moved her face back. "And here we thought you would want to eat with us, nya."

The former assassin remained silent for a second and just stared at the two and although he could manage without eating for a long time, the feeling of hunger was slowly starting to surface. In fact, the last time the male ate something was yesterday evening.

"Fine, I`ll take a bite." He said and let out a sigh.

Hyoudou got up on his legs and reached out to put on his T-Shirt, but suddenly stopped at the middle, earning him special attention from the females. Something caught his senses and it was something he felt for the first time as his right hand reacted and a slight pain ran through it. This made the pawn to bit his lower lip to distract himself from the pain and shot his eyes to the right, just to see the tip of someone`s head peeping out from behind a bush.

"So you really did notice me?" As if feeling the weight of his eyes, the figure spoke up.

"Show yourself then." The boy replied.

Just like that, the bush got stepped on and the figure of a girl appeared, while walking towards them. Her appearance was that of one under his age with long black hair and grey eyes. She wore a gothic Lolita fashion. But what left biggest impression on the brown-haired devil were her ears, which had pointed tips.

"Well, If it isn`t Ophis? Now that`s a surprise." The bishop greeted.

The name the woman called instantly hammered in the boy`s head as he remembered hearing it somewhere before and started going through his memories, until it came to him.

"By Ophis, do you mean the one that founded Khaos Brigade?" He questioned, turning towards Koneko`s sister.

"So you have heard of me?" The girl asked curiously.

"Only what that guy, Azazel, told me." The former member of Night Raid answered.

"I see…" She replied. "Well then, allow me to introduce myself. I am Ophis, the Infinite Dragon God, also known as Ouroboros Dragon. And who you might be?" She didn`t hesitate to ask about the boy`s identity.

"His name is Tatsumi of what we know and he is a servant of Rias Gremory." The stray devil replied instead of him.

"Is that`s all?" The dragon returned, making the two females to raise an eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that?" Le Fay interrupted with a puzzled look on her face.

"So you don`t know about the dragon inside that boy?" Ophis stated, shocking the females.

"A dragon, you say?" A voice echoed in from the left, which turned out to belong to none other than Vali. He was leaning on a tree with his hands crossed in front of the chest area.

"So you haven`t noticed too, huh?" The founder of Khaos Brigade reached to the conclusion herself. "What about you, Albion?"

"**No."** Was the short answer that came from the dark silver-haired boy.

Hyoudou remained calm and just observed the little scene that was happening in front of him. At first, he was confused on what that girl was talking about as much as the others, but then it occurred to him that she is most probably talking about Incursio. He remembered the dream that he was having a lot recently, where he talked to the mentioned dragon, who said that the boy proved himself as his best wielder ever. Even so, he still didn`t understand what`s happening completely, but tried his best to hide it.

"There`s a dragon inside of him. That`s for sure as I can feel it." Ophis stated. "However, it is one that I am not familiar with."

All of a sudden, the stray devil interrupted in with a loud voice as if she remembered something. "Now that you mention it, during the battle against him and the Gremory group that happened this night, he wasn`t effected by my poisonous mist." Kuroka noted. "Just like the Red Dragon Emperor, nya."

"My guess is that it`s a dragon from a entirely different world." The Infinite Dragon God said and turned towards the brown-haired male. "Am I right?"

Silence moved in for about a minute as no one spoke up and just stood there and watched at their new 'member' of the team. Arthur and Bikou joined them soon enough and at first couldn`t help but asks what was all the commotion about. Hearing what Ophis said, the two men got the same reaction as the two females of the team. The pawn on the other hand watched closely their behavior, expecting some kind of other reaction that would lead to a more aggressive situation, but that didn`t happen. Noticing that, he decided that there`s no meaning in hiding it anymore and spoke up.

"Yeah, you are right." The boy said, turning towards the dragon.

"So does that mean….? The older of the Pendragons questioned.

"Yes, I come from a different world." Tatsumi confirmed the speculations.

"Well, well, now that`s something you don`t hear every day." Lucifer said with a smile on his face, showing interest in the matter.

"But how did you end up in this one?" The blonde-haired girl asked next.

"Due to some events, I ended up dying in my world, after that instead of death I met that dragon, Great Red and he sent me to this one." The former assassin explained.

It seemed the name of the dragon he called out sank into everyone`s mind, especially in Ophis`s and Vali`s.

"You are joking, right?" Bikou interrupted, but seeing the serious look in the green-eyed teen`s eyes bowed his head down.

"So Great Red brought you here through the Dimensional Gap?" The Ouboros Dragon guessed.

"Who`d know the Dragon of Dragons would do such a thing." The White Dragon Emperor added. "That I didn`t expect."

"Anyway, isn`t it time you say what do you want my help for? My household is going to have a Rating Game next week, so I would appreciate it if we can finish it before then." Hyoudou stated, urging the others to spill out everything.

"I see..." Ophis started. "…so that`s the reason why you are allowing him to stay with you?" She finished, turning straight at Vali.

"I also wanted to obtain some information on Hyoudou Issei through him, but guess that won`t happen." Lucifer replied, after which shot his eyes towards the green-eyed teen. "We want you to be Ophis bodyguard for a while."

Tatsumi didn`t reply and just raised an eyebrow, hinting that he wanted more detailed explanation. Seeing that, the dark silver-haired boy continued.

"From some time it is known to us that the guys from Khaos Brigade want to steal Ophis powers and use them for their own purpose. The problem is that in order to accomplish my ambition I can`t afford that." Vali said.

"So basically you won`t be able to achieve your goal without the help of the Ouroboros Dragon, huh?" The pawn guessed, which was confirmed by a nod from the man. "So what`s your goal anyway?"

"It`s Great Red." The Infinite Dragon God interrupted in. "I want to remove that dragon from the Dimensional Gap, so I can regain my 'silence' again, while Vali desires to take him down."

"In other words, helping Ophis is completely satisfying me. I want to defeat the Dragon of Dragons and become the first ever True White Dragon God Emperor." The human, devil hybrid claimed his true intentions.

"So that`s the story." Bikou spoke up. "We need you to be her bodyguard for a while."

"Why don`t you do it yourselves?" Tatsumi questioned out of the blue.

"For some time now, I have wanted to observe the current Red Dragon Emperor and his growth, so in order to do that I need to go to him." The founder of Khaos Brigade stated.

"That`s why someone like you, who is from the same household as him, is perfect for the job." Arthur added. "Originally we were planning on sending Kuroka, Le Fay and Fernir, but changes had to made, because the last one died during the attack on Riser Phenex."

"Fernir?" The green-eyed devil questioned curiously.

"It was the grey wolf that fought together with me against you and your friends, who was killed back then." Bikou explained.

Memories of the battle with the black-haired man and the said wolf came rushing in the pawn`s mind as he remembered Fernir being pretty tough and thought it would be a great combination.

"I see." Tatsumi nodded. "So I am going to be in the same group as a replacement of that wolf."

"You catch up quickly." Vali commented Tatsumi`s up take. "But first, you`ll have to escort Ophis to Diodora Astraroth, so she can give him a portion of her powers, so that Khaos Brigade don`t act suspicious."

"Who`s that guy?" Tatsumi asked, earning him a 'seriously, you don`t know' look, to which he returned with a 'in case you haven`t noticed, I am not from this world' look.

"He is one of 72 Pillars, just like Riser Phenex as well as the heir of Astraroth family. He has allied himself with Khaos Brigade." The blonde-haired man answered his question.

At first, it didn`t look something special to the former assassin for the fact that for him it went 'earn my respect and I will return with such'. That one of the things that the boy learned back in his world, especially since in the Empire there were a lot of important politics, but deep down they didn`t deserve the slightest piece of respect for their actions against the poor part of the population. That was the reason the last part caught his attention, suggesting that the said Diadora guy is secretly siding with the enemy. Even so, he kept his cool and let a sigh.

"I`ll do it." Hyoudou said.

"Then, you should leave first thing in the morning, because we don`t want the guys from Khaos Brigade to act suspicious." Lucifer exclaimed and headed towards the house, followed by the other two men as the rest stood still and silent.

This continued for around two minutes, until Le Fay broke the silence with a cheerful look on her face as if they discussed entirely different matter.

"Ophis-sama, it seems that we will stay together for some time starting now. Do you want some goodies?" The magician said and turned towards the latter, only to find that the dragon was gone.

"Apparently she left too." Kuroka stated. "That`s so like her."

"I am still here." The latter spoke from her left.

This surprised the bishop as she turned left, but lost her balance in the progress and leaned towards the lake. Seeing that, Tatsumi reached his right hand and grabbed her for the arm, but sadly the black-haired woman reacted the wrong way by grabbing his hand as well and pulling it towards her, thus dragging him as well.

"Wait, don`t…" The pawn tried to say something, but was already too late.

The two splashed in the lake, creating a small wave that threw some water on the grass as the younger of the Pendragons and Ophis had to move few steps back in order to avoid getting wet themselves. After that, they started staring at the place where the two devils fell when in less than a minute their heads surfaced over the water. Without wasting any time they got out of it, while being wet all the way from head to toes.

"I am wet all over and it will take a while to dry myself. Now that`s troublesome, nya." Koneko`s sister said, touching her cloths.

"It`s all your fault, thought." Hyoudou scolded her. "If you hadn`t pulled me, we would be still dry."

"Shut up and think of a solution instead." Kuroka replied.

"Why should I? I didn`t fell in the water on purpose. Don`t you have some spare cloths?" The green-eyed teen defended.

"Do you need a reason to help a lady?" The stray devil asked. "Besides, do I look like I am caring something in which there could be some cloths?"

"Then can`t you just teleport in the house?" The boy hurried to suggest another way to solve this situation.

"Of course I can do that, but that way I will dry up too slow, nya." Kuroka explained.

"Okay, I get it. Then, hurry up and undress." The former assassin replied.

"Excuse me?" The woman evoked in surprise, as what the boy said caught her off guard. "Are you trying to take advantage of the fact that I am wet?"

"Like hell. What do you think me for?" Tatsumi roared back. "I will carry you to the house, that`s all."

The last sentence caught her off guard once again as she stood still and just stared at the male before her. It has been a while since she was last carried by a man, thus the suggestion indeed took her by surprise. The pawn on the other hand took off his T-Shirt and pressed out the water from it, after which he tied it around his waist. In the same time, Le Fay and Ophis stood silent with a puzzled faces and observed the little argument before them.

"Will you really do that?" Kuroka asked with a weak voice.

"Yeah, so hurry up and get on my back, unless you prefer me carrying you in my arms." Tatsumi said. "Either way, just make it faster."

"Thinking dirty thoughts, are we, nya?" Koneko`s sister teased, recovering from her previous state.

"Don`t you put me in one boat with something that Issei is." He quickly defended.

Hearing that, the stray devil did as suggested by the pawn and quickly went behind his back, which was noticed by him and he slowly lifted her. Not wanting to fall, she wrapped her hands around his waist and the area of the chest, while her soft, huge breasts pressed themselves towards his back. This didn`t remain unnoticed by the boy, who felt his cheeks getting redder by the second, but hurried to shake his head out of any perverted thoughts.

'I am not like Issei. I am not like him.' Hyoudou repeated to himself, but no matter how he tried to shake them, the feeling kept gnawing him.

"What`s wrong?" The bishop couldn`t help, but ask.

"It`s nothing." The boy lied as stable as he could.

"Tatsumi-sama, you are blushing." The magician stated with a devilish smile on her face.

"So you are feeling something from my body after all? You are such a naughty boy, nya." The bishop teased him again.

"I am not." The green-eyed male denied. "Anyway, Le Fay, take her cloths and you, Ophis…" He turned towards the Ouboros Dragon, but there was no one at the place where she stood. "Whatever." He muttered to himself and started walking while carrying the stray devil on his back. 'Issei, bastard, I am so beating you when we meet again.'

And so, they headed towards the house as the green-eyed teen was starting more and more think that everyone in the group was actually pretty kind and caring towards the others, which reminded him a lot of the folks from Night Raid. Just like that, he didn`t realize when exactly a smile had formed on his face as he opened another page of his life in this world.

**And so another chapter of 'Second Life' is done. I am sorry for taking so long to post this chapter, but I am having a busy time of the year with the new semester in university and the exams that follow. On top of that, I was without Internet for more than a month due to the agreement with the Internet company ended. After that, I wasn`t able to get a new for so time, so basically that`s has been going around here.**

**Getting straight to topic, in this chapter I tried to introduce some more characters from the DxD series and give them a little more attention – Vali`s team and show how they are going doing things on their own regardless of Khaos Brigade, which also happens in the LN. **

**Also, I want to mention that my story doesn`t exactly follow the LN as I might switch couple of events as well as creating my own. This is mostly for my story to be more different from the original and to be interesting for you, readers. Still, I will try to cover most of the events from the novel here.**

**Another thing, which includes a slight spoiler, is that the time for an important appearance is coming close, so be patient, while leaving to your imagination on what it could possibly be.**

**Well, that`s what I had to say for now. Thanks for the time that you all spent to read my work, it means a lot. Feedbacks are welcomed as always. Constructive and those without any hate are appreciated, so please spare both my and your time if you are going to hate over whatever it will be and just leave this page. **

**Once, thank you for reading my work as I hope that you will leave this page enjoyed! **

**Until next time! : ) **


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 – _**Reason for living**_

**DREAM**

There lied Tatsumi, unmoving in what appeared to be water, deep, deep down in a sea or a lake perhaps. There wasn`t any signs of sunlight going from anywhere, just darkness alone, giving a cold feeling to the green-eyed teen. At first there was absolutely nothing around, but later on images of strange creatures started passing by his line of horizon, which as if seeing him started turning around leaving as fast as they could. It would appear they were scared of him and just small, but very big ones too, even huge fishes avoided going near the boy.

Suddenly, the picture change and he found himself in a totally different environment from just a second ago. There wasn`t even the slightest sign of water around, only sand and the scorching sun shining down on him from the sky as the temperature felt like 50 degrees or higher. And so the surroundings began changing again and again, from places like high mountains to huge glaciers, thick forest and more. Everywhere he went people and other creatures feared him, while he was doing what it looked he did best, killing his prey, eating it and surviving always.

The image once again changed to that of a rocky mountain without a single tree or water around. Clouds were covering the sky as a heavy rain started falling on the ground like a terrible storm that didn`t seem to end. Hyoudou looked around and described the place as a big cave, excavated in the mountain. There deep silence was ruling over the area, but it didn`t remain like that for long.

Just like that, an army of humans appeared ahead, holding all sorts of weapons, from spears to swords and bows. Using them, the group started attacking the boy over and over again. However, none of the attacks managed to pierce his skin, proving their attempts totally useless, but even so the attackers continued and tried again and again. Despite that, it was still clear as a day that they could not scratch him at the slightest, let alone do something more than that.

"_Don`t give in."_ A voice echoed through the entire mountain.

Turning towards the source of it, the former assassin saw a man standing on top of a cliff and watching at him. He had matching green hair and green eyes, while his attire consisted of a purple outfit with white boots and a blue mantle, as well as a large headdress. The exactly the same style as the young Emperor`s that ruled in his day back in the Empire.

"_Keep attacking!"_ The man shouted. _"Bring forth the new weapons!"_

After him saying that, a much smaller group of people appeared and went in front of Tatsumi, while holding some sort of strangely looking weapons, after which they launched forwards at the brown-haired teen. First a bright blue light erupted from one of them, covering the entire are and blinding the boy in the process. What came next was a powerful shockwave that crashed down in his body, but this time the damage was fact as the boy felt incredible pain going right through him. Couple more shockwaves followed, wounding the target even more, until it stopped only to be replaced by what appeared to be feathers that pierced right through his skin as well. Unfortunately, it didn`t end there as a man holding a weapon in the form of giant scissors, jumped from the left side and swung the sharp weapon at the chest area of the boy. More pain escaped his lips as a mighty roar echoed through the entire area.

"_That`s enough. We must not kill it."_ The man on the cliff shouted. _"Capture it alive, no matter what."_

All of a sudden, the image before the teen began blurring as his eyes started closing slowly and painfully. The last thing he saw was how the army of humans advanced towards him with joyful screams.

**DREAM END**

Tatsumi shot his eyes wide open only to find himself staring at the ceiling of the house, which Vali and his team used for base. The pawn was lying down on a sofa in one of the two rooms that were on the first floor as he was allocated to sleep there during the night along with the other male members of the group. The female part of it had the room on the third floor for themselves, where it was the only bed in the entire building. And so, the boy slowly got and took a quick look around, noticing that everyone else was still sleeping. After that, he snuck out as quietly as he could and decided to go outside for some fresh air.

Leaving the house, Hyoudou shot a look at the sky, just in time to see the sunlight shining down on the ground through the light green sky, which by itself gave away the fact that they are somewhere in the Underworld. After that, he thought of going to the lake for a short walk and in less than ten minutes arrived at the place. There, he kneeled next to the water and used it to wash his face with it, in order to wipe the sleepiness from his eyes. Finishing with this, the devil sat on the soft grass and began to stare at the sky, while enjoying the silence that was ruling over the atmosphere and thinking about stuff. Just like that, memories of the dream he had this night crossed his mind to which he reacted by putting up a puzzled look on his face.

"What was this dream about?" Tatsumi muttered under his nose. "It was the first time I had such a dream in my entire life. As if I was on the place of the Tyrant from which it was made the weapon, Incursio."

"**That`s right."** A voice called out from nowhere, making the former assassin to make a full look around, only to find nothing. **"I am right here."** It called again.

This time, the male followed it correctly and turned towards his right hand as no matter how absurd it looked, but it indeed came from there. Then again, he remembered that the dragon inside Issei always spoke through his left hand, which kind of reasoned things for the pawn.

"**This would be the first time we officially talk like that, boy." **The voice continued.

"Who exactly are you?" Hyoudou asked the first thing that came to his mind.

"**Originally I don`t have a name. Not from the place you and I come from. Arriving in this world I became a dragon sealed inside a newfound Sacred Gear, named Extreme Absorbing."** Incursio explained.

"Where did you learn that from?" The green-eyed male questioned.

"**The Great Red talked to me and said that judging by the type of Imperial Arm I was, you and me will become the Third Heavenly Dragon, also named as The Silver Dragon Emperor."** The voice said casually and paused. **"He also mentioned that once we are in this world, we can`t go back to the previous one, due to our bodies being destroyed there."**

"So that`s how it is." The devil commented with a slight hint of sadness in his voice.

"**With this said, there is only one thing I need to know."** The dragon stated.

This made the teen to arch an eyebrow out of wonder, after which he asked. "And that would be?"

"**What is that do you desire the most?" **Incursio shot his question away.

"I just want to protect my friends in order to live together with them." Tatsumi answered without second of hesitation. "Back in our world, people that I cared for, died and I couldn`t do anything to prevent that. But, there is no way I can allow that to happen to those that I met here."

"**Then, I will lend you my powers so you can accomplish that goal of yours, boy."** The voice said.

"Cut the 'boy' crap already. Call me by my name." The pawn replied.

"**Very well, let`s do our best together, Tatsumi!" **Incursio corrected himself. **"I will be retreating for now."**

Just like that, the voice of the dragon stopped coming out from the teen`s hand and he renewed watching the sky, while thinking about random stuff. All of a sudden, something hit him out of the blue, to which he reacted by bowing his head down for few seconds. What caught his attention was the fact that today marked three months and one week since he came to this world and while he was spending more time with his new friends, in the same time it was so long since the former assassin last saw someone from Night Raid. Couple of tears rolled down his face and felt on the ground as memories of the previous group he was part off began surfacing in his mind.

"I wonder if I will be able to see at least someone from them again, or is it already impossible." Hyoudou said and wiped his face, managing to regain his calm. "Now then, I should finish this job as soon as possible. The others at home are probably worried about me."

The brown-haired boy got up, turned around and decided to do a morning practice, consisting of one hundred push-ups and one hundred crunches. Once he was done, the Gremory servantreturned back at the house as he went straight to room of the second floor. Opening the door of it, he saw that everyone had woken up and gathered there already. The men talked something between each others, Le Fay was eating a sandwich and Kuroka simply lied down on the floor with a carpet underneath her. Seeing the temporary addiction to the team, they shot a quick look at him, but not all of them showed the needed attention.

"Good Morning, Tatsumi-sama!" The female magician greeted first.

"Good Morning!" The latter replied back.

"Where were you?" The bishop questioned.

"I was out for some fresh air, that`s all." The pawn answered casually. "Basically, nowhere that is of much importance."

"That`s quite big fresh air you took there." Bikou barged in the discussion, as if he had something against it.

"That`s none of your business. In regards, you should have mentioned that you are such a snoring king. If you had, I would have definitely preferred to sleep on the roof instead." The green-eyed teen defended.

The black-haired man twitched an eyebrow at the pawn`s comment, while Vali, Arthur and Le Fay remained silent and only the stray devil couldn`t help, but giggle.

"That hit the mark." Arthur commented.

"You…" Sun Wukong`s descendant tried to return to the bully, but was stopped by his dark silver-haired friend and leader.

"Cut it out, Bikou! You know it`s true." Vali interrupted in and turned facing their guest. "Are you being in a bad or a good mood today?"

"Who knows? I just felt like speaking my mind." The brown-haired devil stated and put his hands in his pockets and leaned on the wall behind.

"Tatsumi-sama, you seem the type to answer to bullies." Le Fay said after swallowing the last bite of her sandwich.

"Well, I learned from the best after all." The former assassin answered as memories of the pink-haired girl of Night Raid flushed in his mind. "Anyway, where is Ophis?"

As if hearing the boy calling her, the said dragon appeared in the center of the room, earning special attention from everyone. She made herself comfortable on one of the couches and lifted a hand as if she was a child at school, who wanted to answer the question of the teacher.

"Already looking for me, are we?" The Ouroboros Dragon commented.

"What will be our course of actions, Vali?" Arthur questioned the leader of the team after giving the founder of Khaos Brigade the right recognition.

The latter didn`t answer at first and put up a thinking pose instead, giving the impression that he was lost in thought. The others remained silent, while waiting for his decision, which came out after two long minutes.

"We should proceed as planned and have Ophis escorted to Diodora Astraroth first in order to avoid getting suspicious." Lucifer explained. "However, there`s a problem."

"Which it is…?" Hyoudou urged the dark silver-haired teen to continue.

"Other members may be looking for Ophis to give them powers." The White Dragon Emperor added.

"And that might be…" The pawn barged in again, earning him several glares from the group.

Silence moved in, as everyone looked at the former assassin and the way how he interrupted and urged on in the conversation. It was obvious that no one of the team liked his behavior and Tatsumi himself was well aware of that. However, he couldn`t care less what they thought about him.

"You really appear to be the type to push things, don`t you?" Bikou stated.

"The more I am informed about what`s going on, the better I can help you." The latter commented.

"I am talking about the higher ups of Khaos Brigade, like the guys from the Old Satan Faction, who are slowly preparing themselves to make their appearance before the devil society." The human, devil hybrid explained, after which he paused for a break. "Although, they are not such a threat to be frightened from, but there is one more faction that could cause us trouble. It is called the 'Hero Faction'."

"The Hero Faction, you say?" Tatsumi arched an eyebrow, hinting that he wanted more detailed explanation.

"It is a group formed by Cao Cao, who is a human and descendant of a hero." Arthur continued for his leader. "There are three reasons why he is so dangerous to our plan. The first is because that man believes it is his duty to destroy all supernatural being such as devils, fallen angels, angels alike and even dragons. The second one is that he is gathering humans with Sacred Gears in his team, judging by their talents and potential." The swordsman added, pausing after that.

"And the last one…" The brown-haired male urged once again.

"That`s due to his Sacred Gear, which is the True Longinus and the one that was used to kill the God of the Bible." The older of the Pendragons finished.

"It does sound troublesome." The group temporary`s member exclaimed.

The description that Arthur gave him, kind of remained the boy of none other than Esdeath, due to the fact that she was the real threat back in his world. Her army, her skills and her Imperial Arm were what the reasons why she was bearing the title 'The Empire`s Strongest'. This brought fear to the Revolution Army as the leaders of it market her as a 'must defeat target to defeat' in order for the revolution to be completed.

In that time, silence moved over the atmosphere as everyone seemed to be thinking about something on their own. This continued for around minute or two, until the leader of the team spoke up.

"You should leave right now." He said, turning towards Kuroka.

"We are on it, nya." The black-haired woman replied and nodded to the former assassin and Le Fay to gather in front of the door.

And so the appointed group gathered in the middle of the room with the stray devil and the magician at the center, while Tatsumi and office stood calmly and waited. Suddenly a purple magical appeared beneath them and a light of the same color started glowing stronger and stronger, raising itself in the air until it covered the group completely. Almost reaching the ceiling, the light vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving absolutely no signs of the members, who stood there, marking that the teleportation has been successful. Meanwhile, the brown-haired teen and the rest already stood in what appeared to be a forest as everywhere they looked only trees and bushes could be seen.

"Are we there yet?" The only male questioned, turning towards the blonde girl.

"No." The bishop answered instead. "Right now we should be in the forest near the small town Himeji, nya."

'Himeji?' This got the former assassin to wonder as the name he heard sounded somewhat familiar. After a minute of thinking, he finally remembered hearing it in the Geography`s lessons at school. "So in other words, we are in the Japan right now."

"Yeah. Diodora Astraroth is currently staying in a big shrine in about one hundred meters south of the city." She explained shortly.

"Is that so?" Ophis`s voice caught their attention. "A lot of time has passed since I was last in the human world."

"So which way should we go now, Kuroka-sama?" Le Fay asked her comrade.

"Let`s see… I suggest going through the town, so we can orientate ourselves on the right track, nya." The woman replied and pointed to her left.

"Just great, our leader herself doesn`t know the way." The green-eyed teen commented what was on his mind without holding back.

"Just shut up and follow me." Koneko`s sister said and pouted, while leading the way.

An hour later, they arrived at the place where the mentioned Diodora currently resided in. It was a typical Japanese shrine surrounded by the forest from every side, which explained why it was so hard to find. The building had only one floor, but even so was high for a two-floor one and long as almost as whole football stadium. Before the building itself, there was a small square yard long about twenty meters. Kuroka, Le Fay and Ophis entered in, while Tatsumi preferred to stay outside and wait for them to get the job done, which happened surprisingly fast, less than five minutes. After another hour, the group was back from the place where they teleported earlier. The former assassin suggested to the others to head directly towards Okayama where his household was, but it got refused by the stray devil as she decided to postpone it for tomorrow and appointed the glade for a perfect sleepover place. Understanding how useless was to argue with them, Tatsumi separated from the rest, while gathering for wood to lighten up a campfire when it gets dark.

And just like that, couple of hours rolled without noticing and the evening came. The group sat around the fire, which was made by the green-eyed teen as they shared a sandwich for each that were made by Arthur`s sister. It wasn`t much, but the male was really grateful for it, knowing that even this amount can be of great help in times like this. Finishing the so called dinner, the magician and the bishop started talking between the two of them, the brown-haired boy took the task to keep the fire up from extinguishing, while staring at the night sky.

Suddenly, the human`s voice caught his attention to which he reacted by turning towards the source.

"Look, look, Ophis-sama fell asleep." Pendragon commented and pointed at the founder of Khaos Brigade, who indeed had fallen into slumber. "It`s my first time seeing a dragon sleeping."

But her amazement wasn`t shared by the other two as they continued to keep silent as if they didn`t care about it at all. Seeing this, the girl decided to try something different. The boredom was obviously starting to get on her nerves and she was going to do whatever it took to break it and took her only a moment to do so.

"Hey, Tatsumi-sama, you really look like a nice person. Why don`t you join our team for real?" The blonde asked, shocking both her comrade and the temporary one.

"Le Fay, you can`t just decide that on your own." Koneko`s sister said. "That guy is a member of Rias Gremory`s peerage. We are cooperating this time, because Ophis desires to observe the Red Dragon Emperor, who is his fellow household member. It doesn`t change the fact that he is our enemy, nya."

Hyoudou, who waited for the stray devil to say something, spoke up next. "She is absolutely right. There is no way that I can join your team. That would make me a stray just like her."

"But Vali-sama said that we already betrayed Khaos Brigade by hiding Ophis-sama from them." The magician explained with an insisting voice.

The pawn didn`t answer right away and instead sank into deep thought. The chance to observe the group lead by the White Dragon Emperor helped him to conclude that they were actually good people, who didn`t like the idea of creating a war like the rest of the terrorist organization. The fact that he was once member of a group that was wanted by the Empire gave him the ability to understand how they actually felt. Had he met them first after coming into this world, he could very well be already a part of them, but now there was the Gremory household. It was a place that turned like his home and the friends he had there became like a family to him. That`s why the thought of betraying them was out of the question.

"Thanks for the offer, but I can`t possibly accept it at this point." Tatsumi said and put up a smile on his face. "Maybe if I met you guys first, then perhaps I could have given it a thought."

"Either way, I only care about getting my sister back." Kuroka coldly said.

"Either way, I wouldn`t have let you." The former member of Night Raid returned equally cold.

"What do you possibly know? I always did everything for Shirone, nya. I became a stray because I protected her." The bishop replied, shot a look at the male and continued. "I killed my master because he was a power-hungry devil that used his servants in experiments to develop power ups. As long as it was only me, I could have bared it more and more, but one day he decided to use my sister to test the abilities of the nekomata. That was something I couldn`t have allowed. Keeping Shirone safe was always my reason for living and it will be for the future."

Silence moved up in the entire are as no one spoke up or did anything. The black-haired woman was about to go all out just from so little, but tried her best to keep the anger taking the better of her. The magician sat still and watched at her comrade and although she had heard the whole story couple of times before, it still took her on the emotional train every time. As for the green-eyed teen, he was with his head bowed in order to hide the shock from his face. When Rias told the whole household the story just few days ago, he quickly found the resemblance with another well-know siblings relationship, but now he was more than a certain about it. It wasn`t exactly the same, yet pretty similar to the one of Akame and Kurome. After making up his mind, he got up from his place and slowly went to the other side of the campire where the two females were sitting and stopped right before the stray devil.

"Why don`t you make up with Koneko then?" He asked calmly, to which the woman`s eyes instantly widened.

"What?" She questioned, lifting her head to meet his gaze. "What do you mean by that, nya?"

"Although, I didn`t have any blood related brothers or sisters, but I can understand what you have gone through and I know what is to be chased and wanted by society."

"Is that related to the life you had in your world?" Le Fay asked the first thing that came to her mind, receiving a nod from the male.

"Back in my world, the rich people stole from the poor, used them as they however wanted for whatever they wanted. Men, women, boys and girls, everyone was a subject to the tyranny of the Empire that came from the very inside of its rule." The boy explained and stopped for a break, continuing shortly after that. "That`s why the poor part of the population started to rebel, creating organizations to battle the Empire and take it down by force. One of those organization was formed of skilled assassins that killed the people that were responsible for the corruption and that`s why they were chased and wanted by the government. I was one of those killers."

Short silence came in again as the females in front of him stood there and literally didn`t knew what to say.

"So you were an assassin?" Ophis`s voice echoed in their ears all of a sudden as they turned just to see her seating on the ground and looking at them through the campfire. "Quite interesting, don`t you think?"

"And you, don`t pretend to be asleep just to eavesdrop on the conversation of others." Hyoudou said casually and started walking towards the place where he sat onto. Reaching it, he grabbed a stick out of a small pile of wood next to his right and threw it into the fire. After which, he used another one to turn over another two that were already put into use.

"Tatsumi-sama, you are amazing. To do that kind of job to change your country, it`s so noble of you." The magician couldn`t help but ask show her impression.

"No, I am not noble at all." The male replied back. "Even if the cause was pure, the way that I and the others choose to change the Empire was still wrong. Killing is a sin no matter how you look it at. I may have gotten another chance to live, but sooner or later I will have to answer for it. Until that moment comes, I will continue to live in order to protect those that are precious to me, even if it means further staining my hands with blood. That is my reason for living."

"I am sorry, nya." Kuroka`s voice made him look up to her. "I had no idea about your circumstances."

"Don`t let it bother you and it`s not like you said something wrong." The brown-haired teen returned. "Anyway, give making up with Koneko a shot. I am sure she will understand you if it`s explained to her."

The latter didn`t reply immediately and instead started staring at her feet. "Even if you say that, I am still a stray devil. For the devil society I am an enemy, so they won`t hear me out." She paused for a second. "No matter how hard I try. No matter…"

"Then, I will stand up for you before the whole devil society if I have to." Tatsumi replied raising the tone quality a little.

"Huh?" Was all that the bishop could say from not believing what she just heard, but hurried up to recover from the surprise. "Don`t be stupid, nya. Someone like you, who has been chased the same way as I am should understand that it`s not possible."

"That`s exactly why I say this." The other devil stated. "Because I know how you feel and I am familiar with how being close to someone who is on the other side can everything turn out. But to be clear, I am only doing this for Koneko, not you because I don`t want to see her suffer more about the whole matter."

"I am going back to sleep since there isn`t anything interesting worth listening to." The Ouroboros Dragon commented all of a sudden and lied down on the ground.

Hyoudou couldn`t but let out a sigh. "Honestly, she is so emotionless."

The black-haired woman on other hand remained silent at first and not because she wanted, but because she was in a state of amazement. She couldn`t believe the words that came out from the boy`s mouth. The whole thought of someone doing something like that to help her make up with her sister was something she never expected to hear, much less from an enemy. Just like that, she failed to realize when exactly tears started rolling down her face and falling on the ground. Noticing that, she hurried up to wipe them and say something regarding the topic at hand.

"Well, she is born from nothingness, so she rarely shows any emotions, nya." She explained.

"She doesn`t appear the only one disinterested here, thought." The boy said, referring to the blonde girl, who had fallen asleep as well.

"I wonder about that. She seemed really into your story." The bishop commented.

"Anyway, you can go ahead and sleep for a while too. I will stay awake a little longer." Tatsumi said.

"Then, I will help myself, nya." Koneko`s sister replied and lied down, slowly succumbing into the world of dreams.

The former assassin himself remained awake for couple of hours during which he kept the campfire burning and stared at the clean night sky, enjoying the beautiful view of the thousands stars and a half moon floating in the distant horizon. That was until the need for sleep reached him as well as he joined the other three members of the group. It was a normal sleep without any dreams, neither god nor bad, but even so was relaxing and stress-taking one for the boy thought as if his worries just flew far away. When the morning came, instantly felt the faint puff of the wind hitting in his face, the coldness of the ground that had cooled down during the night. However, it wasn`t none of those that woke him up, but the rather strange feeling of something heavy placed on his body. As the teen began to slowly open his eyes, the view of a certain black-haired female devil lying on top of him with her front jumped right before him. And what completed the surprise was that her big breasts had dropped out of her kimono and now were making direct contact with his skin.

"Hey, get of me, will you?" Hyoudou demanded half asleep, but his words seemed to fell on deaf ears. "Hey!" He called out a bit louder and this time managed to wake up the female on top of him.

Kuroka slowly lifted her head, wiped the sleepiness of her eyes before focusing on the male beneath her. "Good Morning, nya!" She greeted.

"Why are you on top of me?" The green-eyed teen questioned slowly getting up, or at least the upper part of his body, due to the rest being unable to do so.

"The ground was too hard to sleep on, so I thought of using you as my body pillow." She stated casually.

"Don`t decided something like this on your own, damn it." The former member of Night Raid protested, increasing his voice. "It gets really heavy like that."

"Never mind that, your body is quite build up, isn`t it? These arms and that chest, they are very well trained for someone at your age, nya." The stray devil complimented him.

"Well, a dear person to me once said that training one`s body, he or she would not only become physically strong, but more durable by having more stamina, which is something an assassin should have." The pawn stated, referring to what Bulat told to him when he was still alive. "Now can you get of me already?"

"Hmm." The bishop put up a thinking pose and just like that shot forward and licked the boy on his left cheek. "Although, you taste like a kid, there is something mature about you."

"What the hell are you doing?" Tatsumi asked in astonishment.

"I am just marking, nya." The other devil answered and shot up from his body all the way on the ground into a standing position.

"I don`t remember saying that you could." He replied, while getting up on his legs.

"Meanie." Koneko`s sister stated and turned around.

"You are such a pain." The male said and shot a look only to see Le Fay and Ophis still sleeping, after which he turned around and headed towards the forest, catching the woman`s attention.

"Where are you going?" She asked casually.

"I am going to wash my face at the nearby river that we passed by yesterday." He answered, slowly disappearing between the trees.

Reaching the place, the former assassin kneeled down to the water and without wasting any time used his palms to gather a small amount of water in a hollow and splash on his face, repeating the process few times in order to fully awake. After which, he shot a look at the area without getting up. It was a middle-sized forest clearing long about ten meters. The river crossed it through the middle and while it was very shallow, it`s channel was pretty wide, taking almost all of the clearing. The grass was short and green, the normal for the start of the summer season. The trees that surrounded that place were already in their blossom, each long about three or four meters tall. This all made the scenery really beautiful that the boy could just stand there and stare at it for hours.

"Marking, huh?" The boy muttered as a nostalgic feeling came to him, for the reason that there was another woman that had marked him like that in the past. And that someone was Night Raid`s blonde, the flirting and playful, Leone. She, who was the one that made him join the group of assassins in the first place. He would constantly get teased by the latter, but a part of that he and the woman cared about each other very much. "I wonder what happened to Sis after that."

Suddenly, danger ran through his body and the sound of leaves rustling ringed in his ears, but it was too rough for it to be due the weak wind that was barely moving anything at all. He knitted his eyebrows and shot a look above the tree that was right in front of him. Behind the leaves and branches could be seen the figure of someone and just like that some kind of sharp object appeared in that someone`s right hand, which he or she threw with all his or her might at the pawn. Hyoudou instantly reacted and jumped backwards into a standing position just before the object hammered in the ground like an arrow. After which, he gave at it, only to recognize it as a spear of light. And again, another killing intent crossed his senses, warning him to watch out as he made few steps to right when another spear came down from above. Not even a second later, two more descended from above, one to his left and one to his right side, but even the green-eyed teen remained calm and escaped the threat by jumping forward like a swimmer, after which he used his hands as a support to toss himself over in the same direction and get back into a standing position.

"Won`t you show yourselves already? The surprise attack failed." Tatsumi said scanning the area.

Just like that one of the attackers surfaced from behind the branches of a tree and raised himself in the air. Following him, the boy spotted three fallen angels floating in the air with their black wings spread across. One of them was a woman and two were men, all of them somewhere in their thirties, dressed in modern cloths. They wore angered looks on their faces and the pawn knew it was because they failed to strike him down secretly.

"You, lowly life form." One of the men spoke up. "You got some guts challenging three fallen angels such as ourselves. This bravely of yours will be your doom."

"Even if you are a devil, we won`t show any mercy to you." The only female commented casually.

"Let`s finish him off and head after the rest." The last one of them said and created another spear in his left hand.

The other two followed his lead and created spear of their own and prepared to attack the unarmed target.

'Talk about a start of the day.' The brown-haired boy thought in his mind. 'They don`t appear to be that strong, but I should proceed with carefully and…' He continued to analyze the situation, but got interrupted when a loud sound of explosion came behind him and judging by the timing between the volumes, he quickly thought that the rest must be fighting as well.

"Looks things with the others have started as well." The woman stated with her attention and that of her comrade being drawn by the explosion.

'I should retreat and head back.' The pawn decided and after noticing the opening in the enemy, took off into a sprint, surprising the fallen angels.

"What? He is getting away." One of the men shouted.

"After him!" The other one yelled.

Just like that, the three dashed after their target, flying over the trees in order to avoid the narrow path of the forest. Having the freedom of reaching a higher speed in air, they quickly caught up to the devil and without hesitation started throwing a spear after a spear at him. And yet, Hyoudou calmly dodged every single of them, while not stopping to run as fast as he could. And again, another spear came down from the air and little to the right, aimed straight for his head. Noticing that, the former member of Night Raid sharply ducked and then equally sharply launched himself forward, only to be threatened from the back one more time. This one was aimed few meters ahead of him in advance, which by itself gave away the fact that the enemy was skilled in his field and the slightest mistake from him could be lethal. Following the directory of the object of light, the teen suddenly stopped with a jerk and jumped to the right, finding a thicker path that was surrounded by more trees.

'Damn it, if I only could use Incursio, getting away from these guys would be a breather. Just when I need the key, it`s…' Tatsumi cursed in his mind, while still running, but his line of thought got interrupted when another spear came from above and with a meter in advance.

This time, he reacted by sliding to the left and with a random pattern of movements dashed forward again as something hit him in the mark while sprinting.

'Wait a minute, Ophis said that the Balance Breaker of Issei`s and Vali`s Sacred Gears are armored scale man. If that`s the case, then does that mean that my is the demon armor.' He thought to himself just as another two enemy charges came down on him from both left and right, to which he responded by making a somersault forward, jumping right above the objects of light. After which he continued on his way his way. 'I don`t know if it is, but it`s worth the shot.'

Suddenly, whole six spears came down at him, two from the front, two from left and two from the right, putting the devil in quite the pinch. In normal circumstances that would be impossible to dodge since he wouldn`t be able to stop at time in such speed, but the boy had seen worse situations and remained calm, took a deep breath and called out.

"Balance Breaker!" He shouted and increased the speed.

And that was just in time as his body got wrapped in a silver light for a moment and then it revealed him wearing the demon armor, while this boost got him out of the danger by hair`s breath.

'I did it.' The former assassin thought surprised to his success in calling the armor to him and without a second of hesitation pulled the perfect get-away technique into use by becoming invisible and continued on his way, while the three fallen angels had to stop from the sudden disappearing of their target.

In that time, Kuroka, Le Fay and Ophis were being attacked by other two enemies of the same race, a woman and a man as their attackers tried catch them off guard while sleeping. Fortunately, the last two members of the group woke up just before that happened and they were able to escape the danger and started fighting the enemies.

Currently, the opponents proceeded in attacking again by creating spears of light and throwing them at the devil and at the human, but as if they avoided aiming at the Infinite Dragon God. Even so, all of their attempts proved to be futile up to this point as Koneko`s sister simply used her space manipulation ability to teleport from place to place, while the blonde-haired girl dodged by jumping with ease. And again, one of the enemies created another weapon and threw it at the bishop.

"Don`t you ever learn?" The nekomata said and teleported once again, reappearing two meters to the right. "It`s useless to try that against me, nya."

"Don`t underestimate us, you devil bitch." The woman shouted, created one object of light in both hands and descended down at the target.

Closing in, the fallen angel swung her left hand with the spear straight at Kuroka`s head, but to no avail as the latter simply repeated what she did so far and teleported to behind her. Noticing that, the enemy instantly turned around and threw both spears at the black-haired female, while this time her attack was joined by another two object of light from above that were shot by the other opponent. And yet, the bishop remained calm and sighed out of disappointment and just snapped her left hand`s fingers.

All of a sudden, a purple magical circle appeared beneath her from which popped put couple of white chains that flew straight at the incoming objects and with circle movements literally stopped them moment before they found their target as if it was planned all along.

"What the hell is that?" The male opponent cursed in astonishment.

Seeing the opening, the stray devil smirked deviously and snapped her fingers again as another magical circle appeared under the female fallen angel and more white chains came from it, binding her to the ground with brutal force.

"You…" The woman preyed, while struggling to escape, but no matter how hard she tried the power of the chains was simply too great for her. "You placed those magical circles while dodging our attacks."

"You little…" The other enemy attempted to threat while creating another spear of light, but got interrupted as a black blast of energy crashed into him, after which he fell crashing down on the ground.

"I am here too just so you know." Le Fay barged in from the right. And indeed she had been left behind by the opponents as they started turning more attention to Koneko`s sister. But the blonde-haired girl wasn`t some random foe either, but an expert magician as such turning back on her during a battle could lead to dangerous circumstances for the enemy. "You are the one, who are underestimating us here."

"You are pretty impressive for brats, aren`t you?" A sudden voice from above caught their attention.

Turning towards the source of the unknown voice, the group members lifted their heads up just to see another fallen angel floating in the air. This one, however, was different from the ones that were scattered on the ground, having whole nine black feather wings, which by itself stood for it being a higher class than a normal one. It was a young man with black hair and green pupils while the rest of his eyes were red. He had an average build up body and wore a black robe with detailed accessories.

"Now that`s a surprise." The Ouboros Dragon finally spoke up. "I was wondering why the Old Satan Faction sent such weaklings such as these to retrieve me, but seeing you here, it all makes sense, Kokabiel."

"Unfortunately for you, I am not Azazel, so I don`t have wish to talk to you that much." The Cadre class fallen angel replied.

"So the guys from the Old Satan Faction busted you out of your frozen prison. They are so desperate, nya." The stray devil commented.

"I am just aiding them, because they want to create another Great War just like me. After that happens, I will defeat them as well, for fighting on war`s battlefield is the sole reason of my life." The man explained casually.

"So you think you could defeat me?" The founder of Khaos Brigade interrupted in again. "That`s impossible."

Even so, the high class fallen angel kept his arrogant behavior and smirked widely. "We will see about that." He said and created a magical circle from which he shot several spears of light down towards the ground as they scattered in every single direction.

And although, the dragon didn`t even flinch, the bishop and the magician found themselves in quite the trouble and while Le Fay managed to put up a defensive circle, Kuroka couldn`t do neither that nor teleported to another location. And despite her knowing that this enemy`s level was many times higher than the ones of the normal from the same race, the female somehow hopped for a better outcome.

"Damn it, there is no time." Kuroka shouted out as she and Arthur`s sister watched as the objects were approaching them.

However, just at that moment, the stray devil felt that someone lifting her and jumped to the right in incredible speed at that before the spears could land on the ground, but no one could be seen expect for those who were at present. It was almost as if the wind moved the black-haired woman on its own so precisely that she could come unscratched from the attack. Short silence moved in for about five seconds as all eyes watched with amazement and wonder when suddenly the air that held Koneko`s sister as if started to materialize until it revealed a silver-armored figure with a tall and savage-based shape, shocking everyone.

"Is that the White Dragon Emperor?" One of the fallen angels that lied down on the ground questioned. "But Diodora Astraroth didn`t mention anything about him being with Ophis yesterday."

Only the said dragon managed to look deeper in the mysterious figure and after a second of thought came to a realization. "So this is the Balance Breaker of that boy`s Sacred Gear, huh?"

"What?" Kuroka evoked from the former assassin`s arms. "You mean that this is actually…"

"…Tatsumi-sama!" Le Fay finished.

Hearing that, the green-eyed teen couldn`t help himself but sigh. "Yeah, it is me, but we have other things to worry about right now." He added and lifted his lead up towards the Cadre.

"This job just became interesting." Kokabiel spoke up impressed. "There`s no doubt that you aren`t the Vanishing Dragon, but you can`t be the Welsh one either. I have never heard of a third Sacred Gear like theirs." The man commented. "Show me what you have got!"

The enemy finished and by raising both his hands up created a huge spear of light as it shadowed the entire area beneath it. It was totally different from the ones normal fallen angels could make, suggesting just how more powerful he is from them. Gathering enough energy, he raised himself few meters in the air and by pulling a great deal of strength threw the object of light down even thought it looked like it would the ones from the same race as him.

'Crap!' Hyoudou cursed inwardly. 'I should do something about…' He continued to think of a way to deal with the current situation when a voice cut him off.

"**Absord!"** A voice came from the brown-haired teen.

All of a sudden, a big silver magical circle appeared on the ground out of nowhere and several thick white chains came from it and launched themselves at the incoming object. Just like that, they wrapped around it, stopping its speed in the progress after which the force of their pressure broke the spear, leaving nothing from it behind.

"That`s impossible." The Cadre evoked.

"I didn`t do that." Le Fay stated in astonishment.

"I didn`t do it either, nya." The bishop said as well.

"It can`t be me either, right?" The former member of Night Raid shot a curious look.

"**No, it`s exactly you, who did this."** The same voice echoed from inside the armor`s right hand.

The pawn`s eyes shot wide opened as he recognized the source of it. "Incursio?" He called out to the dragon inside him.

"**Just now, that was one of the abilities of your Sacred Gear, called 'Absorb'."** It said, catching the attention of everyone around him. **"It can activate itself when you touch someone, absorbing the latest ability that the person had used, copying it and also making stronger."**

"Is this for real?" Tatsumi asked in state of confusion.

"**Yes, but you can absorb only one technique per person and there is time needed for you to be able to use it again."** Incursio explained.

"So you absorbed my chain spell by touching me." Kuroka said.

"Unbelievable!" The blonde-haired human commented.

However, Kokabiel recovered from the shock and quickly remained about his presence by spreading his wings further more. Just like that, what appeared to be projectiles came from them and flew straight at his enemies. Noticing the danger, the green-eyed devil reacted equally fast and dashed at the female magician and picked her up from the ground, while still holding Koneko`s sister. After that, he grabbed Ophis as well, stopped for a second and launched himself like a bullet in the air and the opponent could do nothing but just watch as they disappeared in the distance.

In the same time, the group had managed to escape the danger thanks to the former assassin`s surprising jumping skills and now were faced with the task of having to land. And it appeared like they were going to land in an area covered with many trees and it was clear that one of them stood right before their landing platform. But it wasn`t any normal tree, but one about six meters tall and really thick, so Hyoudou had to put his mind into action and fast. Nearing it, he overturned in the air in a strange way, while not letting off the other group members. Then, he stretched his left leg, managing to step on a random branch after that push himself backwards right towards the ground. Closing in, he made a backwards somersault just in time before making contact with the surface and instantly sliding his legs back in order to use them as a support to slow his speed. Eventually, he finally stopped and without wasting anytime let the others go.

"Never do that again, nya!" The stray devil complained, while catching her breath.

"I agree with Kuroka-sama." Pendragon said.

"I got it already." The male replied, unequipping the demon armor. "But, we got away from them, didn`t we? So who was that guy anyway?" He suddenly changed the subject.

"Kokabiel, one of the leaders of the fallen angels and their organization Grigori." The bishop answered. "He is a survivor of the last Great War along with others like Azazel, but unlike that Sacred Gear maniac, he desires only to fight, nya." She added and stopped for a second.

"So that`s the one that tried to create another war by stealing the Holy Swords from the Church and attacked Rias and the others." Tatsumi said, recalling hearing something about the opponent from his friends.

"That`s right." Le Fay stated. "Back then, Vali-sama was asked by the leader of Grigori to stop him and when that happened, he personally sealed him in the Underworld."

"I see." The male noted. "Anyway, let us teleport straight at the mansion where my friends are."

"Are you kidding?" The black-haired woman evoked. "I used too much spells in the fight, nya. That`s why I need time to recover my energy. We are walking there and that`s that."

"Fine, we will walk." The green-eyed teen gave up and so the group gathered together and after a minute of thinking for the direction, started their way.

Kuroka and Le Fay paired up and began talking between each other, Hyoudou followed behind them and Ophis walked at the end of the line, while her eyes were fixed on the former assassin. Just for half an hour, that boy became the center of attention, ever since he appeared wearing that silver armor and although she rarely showed interest in anything, Sacred Gears that involved dragons were an exception.

As she walked behind the subject of her thoughts, something hit her in the mind. It was something that was related to a dream she had been having a lot recently, in which she got a prophecy about the appearance of another Heavenly Dragon and the creation of the fourteen Longinus and right now she was more than certain about it. 'So he is the one that will become the Silver Dragon Emperor. And just like the White and the Red, he is still young tasked with a long way ahead. I look forward to see how far he can reach.' She thought while following the rest.

**And so chapter 14 is finally done. This one came out quite longer than the usual ones as I had to restart the working process on it couple of times due to change in ideas. I also apologize for the recent inactivity, but I had a lot of things happening to ne, university exams and the preparations for Christmas and etc. **

**Getting straight to the content, in this chapter I tried to show the reason for living for Kuroka, the wish to protect her sister and make a safe future for her; for Tatsumi, the wish to protect all his friends even if it means killing a lot of people for the cause; and last Kokabiel, who only lives to fight and fights to live. I also tried to develop Tatsumi`s relationship with some members of Vali team, namely Kuroka and Le Fay, which is not only done to find him a pair, but for the plot of the story in the future.**

**And for the end, I decided to give Tatsumi`s Sacred Gear some abilities, referring to that one battle at the end where he unconsciously copied Kuroka`s spell with Absorb. The idea came out from Issei`s Boosted Gear ability – Boost and Vali`s Divine Dividing ability – Divide. So basically, this ability can absorb the latest spell that the person, who gets touched by Tatsumi, uses. Although, I don`t plan to make it all mighty, so it won`t be able to absorb more than spell per single person. For the future, I plan on developing Incursio`s ability to go invisible and other stuff like the Juggernaut Drive and etc., but that will be shown in time.**

**Well, that`s I wanted to say for now. Once again, I am sorry for not updating much, but I will try to make up for it during the holidays. **

**I hope you liked my work. Feedbacks are mostly welcomed, but please only constructive critiques that would help me improve my grammar, character stile and etc.**

**I wish you all happy holidays! : )**

**~Kris **


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey there, I am going to say more of that I want in the end, but I just wanted to mention – if someone can`t follow the time that this chapter is about, please read the last two chapters, so you can get the idea. With that said, I hope you enjoy my work!**

_**Chapter 15 – Unexpected visitors**_

**Second day without Tatsumi**

**DREAM**

It was dark everywhere Issei looked and nothing else, just absolute darkness covered everything. All that made the boy feel like he was in a black hole or something like that. Suddenly, a bright yellow started glowing from the right, earning the pawn`s attention and just like that he saw the image of none other, but the very first girl that went out with him, Amano Yuuma. The same female that tricked him into going on a date together only to be able to kill him later the day and all that because of his Sacred Gear, Boosted Gear. It was also her that used Asia for own benefit by stealing the former nun`s Twilight Healing, which resulted in the latter almost dying. Those two events made her one of the people that he hated most alongside Riser Phenex and Freed Sellzen.

"_Hey, Issei-kun!" _She spoke, catching the brown-haired boy off guard. _"Will you go out with me?"_

"Yuuma… No, Raynare!" Hyoudou started with a weak voice, but raised it afterwards.

"_Will you die for me?"_ The fallen angel continued as if ignoring the teen.

"Shut up!" The devil roared back.

"_You couldn`t protect her, because you are weak."_ The woman mocked once again with an even more evil face than a devil. _"It will always be like that."_

"Get out of my head!" The Red Dragon Emperor shouted, grabbing his head with both hands.

"_You are at fault."_ She laughed as her voice slowly faded away.

**DREAM END**

"Ise, wake up." Rias`s gentle voice ringed in his ears.

"Issei-san, are you alright?" Next followed Asia`s innocence one.

Hearing them, the pawn slowly opened his eyes just to find the two females leaning right above him, who seeing the boy awake pulled back to give him space to get up. As always both of them were absolutely naked without a single piece of clothing on their bodies, which never disappointed the perverted male.

"Good Morning, President, Asia!" Hyoudou greeted the two with a smile.

"Good Morning!" They followed at the exact same time.

"Are you okay, Ise?" The pure-blooded devil asked her servant. "You seemed troubled while sleeping."

"I am fine. I just had a bad dream." The pawn replied.

"Do you have something that worries you?" The bishop questioned next.

"There`s nothing like that." He answered quickly with a cheerful voice, not wanting to worry his friend.

"I am glad to hear that." The crimson-haired woman stated, getting up from the bed. "However, be sure to tell me if something is troubling you."

"Okay, President!" Issei returned shortly.

"You can always talk with me if you want, Issei-san." Argento hurried to offer the same.

"So that`s how it is." Their master commented. "Now, let`s go have breakfast. A new day is waiting for us."

And so the three devils fixed themselves and headed in the kitchen on the first floor and it less than four minutes they entered and shot a look to see how things were going. Everything seemed normal and similar just like a few days ago as all of their household members were already there eating, drinking tea and talking. Seeing the three roommates everyone greeted them with a smile, creating a very pleasant atmosphere.

After hour an hour they all finished having breakfast and were currently at the living room for a quick conversation on what should they do today. The devils themselves split on couple mini groups, which was like almost the whole time since yesterday. Rias tagged with Akeno and Ravel, who stated that their company was of her most liking. Issei grouped with Asia, Gasper and Xenovia, while Kiba and Koneko would separate themselves elsewhere. There was only one missing and that was none other, but Tatsumi, who had disappeared one day ago during the battle against Kuroka and Bikou. After that, the family couldn`t help but worry for their brown-haired friend, despite knowing that he can take of himself. Most affected of them appeared to be the queen and even thought she tried really hard to hide her emotions, it still was clear as a day that the boy`s absence was reflecting on her mood.

Right at that moment, the President and Vice-President of the Occult Research Club were discussing something at one of the corners, while the rest sat or stood still and waited for their decision.

"Listen up, everyone!" Rias spoke, catching the other`s attention. "Today we decided to take it easy as well and announce it as a free."

"Yes. We stayed shut in the mansion yesterday because of rain, but today I am going to use the good weather and swim in the sea." Xenovia commented.

"That sounds nice. I think I am going to join you." Kiba said and closed a book that he was reading.

"Yeah, I am for it as well." Issei gave his support.

"I prefer lying under the sun, though." Ravel stated.

"Why don`t we take a ball and play a game of volleyball?" Asia suggested.

"That`s a great idea!" The blue-haired knight supported her friend.

"Playing with a ball is too difficult for me. I am just going to watch." The male bishop complained.

"Stop complaining and act like a man, Gasper!" Hyoudou scolded his junior.

"What about you, Koneko-chan?" The former nun asked her white-haired friend, towards her direction. "Is there something specific you want to do at the beach?"

However, no answer came from the family`s rook at first as it seemed that she didn`t hear the question or decided not to pay attention it all. In fact, the latter looked in a totally different situation, while thinking over other things. This was of course noticed by the rest of the group as they all turned special attention to what was happening. Just like that, Toujou muttered something under her nose, breaking the silence in the process.

"…nothing." She finally replied to her friend`s question.

After that, she excused herself and went out of the room, while this left the other devils speechless for a minute.

"It seems she is still thinking about the meeting with her sister the previous night." Xenovia said what was on everyone`s mind.

"I understand that you all are worried, but let`s give her some time to settle down." The heiress to the Gremory family interrupted before anyone could comment further.

"By the way, Akeno-san, are you not feeling well?" The pawn asked the said girl, seeing her wearing a sad look on her face.

"I am fine. Thanks for asking…" The queen hurried to cover it with a smile, but got cut off when the sound of the door bell ringed in everyone`s ears.

"Do we expect anyone else, Rias?" Ravel questioned the other pure-blooded devil.

"No as far as I know." The woman replied. "Can someone see who is it?"

"I will do it." Argento volunteered herself and left the living room.

Followed three minutes silence as the youngsters waited to see who their unexpected visitor was when the door opened and their blonde-haired friend entered the premise.

"President, there`s a man that needs to talk to you." She explained and turned around, hinting for the guest to come in.

He took the hint and entered, revealing himself as a man in his middle age with short black hair, brown eyes and a beard added with a muscular body. He wore black business suit, white shirt under it, finished with a black tie and matching shoes with the same color. Everyone took his appearance quite normal except for one, Akeno, because she knew who this man was and seemed to not like seeing him.

"What are you doing here, Baraqiel?" She asked in a louder voice, surprising her friends.

"By Baraqiel, you mean, one of the fallen angel leaders?" Quarta evoked, staring at the guest.

"What?" Hyoudou evoked in surprise. 'So this is Akeno-san`s father.' He thought to himself after scanning the man with his eyes.

"May I ask on what do we own the honor of your visit?" The household`s master asked the visitor.

"I apologize for the sudden visit, but I was tasked by our commander to check upon you today due the fight you had with Khaos Brigade the night before this one." The man finally spoke, explaining the reason.

"I thank you for your help, but we weren`t informed on such a thing." The crimson-haired woman commented.

"That is because the order was issued yesterday evening." The fallen angel replied and then turned towards his daughter. "It has been a while, Akeno."

"Don`t call me by my name so casually. Just do your work and leave me alone." The queen returned sharply and left the room through one of the two doors.

"We are grateful for your concern. Will you stay for the day?" Rias questioned.

"I am afraid not." Baraqiel replied. "I will just look around the mansion to be certain that there isn`t any danger."

The man said and left the premise as silence moved in for the next two minutes in which the devils simply stood and thought about the things that just happened right before their eyes.

"Now that was someone I didn`t expect to see soon." Issei spoke up, breaking the silence.

"So that is the so called 'master of lightning'?" Quarta insinuated. "I have to admit he is pretty much like I expected him to be."

"Excuse me if I sound a bit rude, but what is that man to Akeno-san?" Ravel couldn`t help but ask, being the only one not knowing the queen`s story.

"He is her father. Akeno is a daughter of Baraqiel and a human woman." The other pure-blooded devil answered calmly, yet it seemed she didn`t want to talk about it.

"So she was half human, half fallen angel before you reincarnated her." The blue-haired knight commented.

"Yes, but just like Gasper and his vampire nature, the fallen angel blood is still a part of her." The household`s master explained. "She has suffered a lot in the past because of being a hybrid."

"Just like me." The male bishop stated with a gloomy feeling to his voice.

"Rias, you sure have an interesting variety of members in your peerage." Riser`s sister said. "I have to admit that Nii-sama`s one pales before yours."

"You talk like you are not a part of Riser`s household." Hyoudou interrupted.

"Actually, I am not. After the attack of Khaos Brigade on my brother`s mansion, I was moved to my mother`s peerage." The blonde-haired devil replied.

"Anyway, what should we do now?" Kiba questioned changing the topic.

"I suggest we postpone the beach for the afternoon. In fact, the groceries are running out, so someone needs to go to Okayama to do the shopping." The crimson-haired woman said and turned towards her pawn. "Ise, Yuuto, can I ask you to do it?"

"We are on it." The two boys replied at the same time.

"Come on, Gasper, you are going too." The brown-haired teen said to his junior.

"Why should I? The President did not ask me." The bishop hurried to excuse himself.

"You are a man right?" Hyoudou replied back. "So, you should help us as well."

"I will come in his stead since I am always glad to help." Asia spoke up and put a smile on her face.

And so, the three devils prepared themselves and headed towards the town down the cliff, while the others stayed at the room for some time, before take the decision to split and do they wanted. Rias and Ravel thought of spending time at the swimming pool in the mansion`s backyard, Xenovia went to train in the front and Gasper decided to stay at his room, playing computer games.

Meanwhile, Akeno lied on the bed inside Tatsumi`s room, holding the sword as if she would never let it go. It was obvious to everyone that the disappearance of the former assassin took most effect on her as she started feeling down ever since that day. The queen even slept in this room every night, which showed how much she attached herself to the missing boy and now his absence was making her worry. This morning, the black-haired woman woke up from a nightmare in which, Tatsumi was slowly becoming more and more distant from her and as a result she found the blanket wet from the tears that fell from her eyes.

Suddenly, the sound of someone knocking on the door echoed through the entire room, making the devil get up in a sitting position and invite whoever it was. Just like that, the premise`s entrance opened and from it came the same man that increased her gloomy feeling today, Baraqiel.

"I finally found you, after going to your room just to see no one there. Then, a member of your household told me that you spent your time here recently." He said, closing the door behind himself and shot a look at his daughter.

"What do you want?" Himejima asked in a mean tone. "I told you to leave me alone, didn`t I?"

"Akeno, can I know why are you in a boy`s room?" The fallen angel asked, ignoring her questions.

"It`s because I want to. Is it wrong for a girl to be in the room of the boy she likes?" The queen replied back sharply.

"As your father, I am simply worried about you." The man stated, trying to show his concern.

"It is a little late for that. If there was a time for you to show your concern, it was when the Himejima clan wanted to kill me, but you let my mother sacrifice herself instead." His daughter returned back with an angry voice.

"I didn`t want such a thing to happen to the neither of you, so please trust me." Baraqiel defended himself.

"I can`t bring myself to trust you, so I am begging you, leave me alone." Akeno cried out. "Someone, who is willing to accept a woman like me appeared. He understands my pain and wants to be my side and he is who I need most." She stopped for a moment and turned towards the fallen angel with teary eyes. "Can you please leave me alone now?"

Her father didn`t answer, just turned around and left the room, leaving his daughter to enjoy the silence, which moved in the atmosphere. The queen cried for couple of minutes, before calming down, not realizing when slumber took control and she fell asleep.

In that time, Issei, Kiba and Asia reached the town of Okayama and instantly headed towards the nearest supermarket they could find. It didn`t take them long to finish the shopping and so in about fifty minutes they were all done and on the way back to the mansion, The two boys carried most of the stock, while the bishop held only a bag of bread and few cucumbers, although she wanted to help more, but her friends politely refused.

Currently, they were walking on a long street, which crossed paths with the road that lead towards the house on the cliff. The sun was shining straight down as the temperature raised itself drastically and that was instantly noticed by the devils due to lack of any wind or shadows. The pawn looked quite tired already, showing the displeasure of the extreme heat, Yuuto and Argento on the other hand seemed not to pay much attention to it.

"Man, it sure is hot even for summer." Hyoudou commented, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"We are almost there, Issei-san." The blonde-haired girl replied with a cheerful voice. "Once we get back, you can take a cold shower or swim in the pool."

"That`s right and besides we can`t allow the heat to take the better of us, especially when there`s a Rating Game waiting for us next week." The knight said with a optimistic voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Issei muttered under his nose. "By the way, do we know who is going to be our opponent now?" He asked, turning towards his male friend.

"No, we don`t. The President said that we will learn probably tomorrow." Kiba answered.

"I hope it`s not Riser and his group of crazy girls again." The brown-eyed teen stated his hope.

"I don`t think it will be them, because Ravel-san said that her brother doesn`t want to participate in any events ever since he lost to you." The other boy explained.

"Well, that guy deserved it for doing bad things to our President." The pawn shouted out.

"Issei-san, you really sound excited and scary whenever we talk about Riser-san." Argento interrupted, while walking. "I am sure he reflected…" She tried to continue, but failed as she slipped and leaned threatening forward.

"Asia!" Hyoudou called out and tried to grab his fellow family member.

However, the girl already felt like someone caught her in the process as she found herself buried in that person`s chest. Followed one minute silence in which no one spoke only stood still, until the bishop backed and instantly bowed her head down.

"Thank you very much for catching me." She thanked and lifted her head in order to see, who was the thanking directed at.

Before the three devils stood a handsome young man, who appeared to be somewhere around their age. He had dark green hair and yellow eyes, while his attire consisted of expensive clothing, mostly noticeably of which was a black jacket that reached all the way to his legs.

"We finally meet again Asia Argento." The man called out to the girl.

"What? Asia, do you know him?" The pawn questioned in a surprised matter.

"I don`t remember him." The latter replied with an unsure voice.

"I don`t blame you, hence it has been quite some time." The stranger said politely. "My name is Diodora Astraroth and I am the devil that you once saved with your Sacred Gear."

After saying that, the man unbuttoned his jacket and then a black shirt under it to reveal what appeared to be a huge scar on his chest, which made the blonde-haired girl to gasp in shock.

"Astraroth?" Kiba repeated. "You are on the 72 pillars in the Underworld, right?"

"That is correct. I am the heir to the Astraroth family." The devil answered.

"I can`t believe, it is really you." The former nun said, while holding both hands in front of her mouth and tears were rolling down her eyes.

"I assure it`s the same here, since I thought you were dead, but then I heard that Rias Gremory had reincarnated you as her servant."

"I am sorry dude, but can you hide your scar? You are scaring Asia with that." Issei interrupted their reunion, earning himself the latter`s attention.

The man in front ignored his displeasure and instead bowed down before the bishop, took her right hand as gently as he could and just like that kissed it, shocking the three devils. After that, he pulled out and smiled at her.

"Asia Argento, will you marry me?" Diodora said as casually as it sounded like something normal.

"Excuse me?" The girl ejaculated.

"Hey, stop it. Don`t you see it`s too much for her to accept at once." The brown-haired teen shouted and this time it seemed that it earned himself the devil`s attention.

"So you are the rumored Red Dragon Emperor, huh?" Diodora replied with a mocking tone to his voice.

"What`s this voice supposed to mean?" Hyoudou continued to speak angrily.

However, he was left ignored once again and that angered him even more by the second as much as he wanted to punch the bastard before his eyes. Astraroth on the other hand turned towards Asia again and got up on his legs.

"Feel free to think over it as much as you want and I will wait for an answer no matter how much it is needed." He said, turned around and slowly faded away in the distance.

"This guy, I don`t like him at all." The pawn stated.

"Asia-san, what did exactly happen between you and Diodora Astraroth?" Yuuto asked his female friend.

"I don`t really remember, except that I saved him." Argento answered with her head bowed down, looking at the ground. "Is something the matter?"

"No, I am sorry for asking you such a thing. Let`s go back and inform the President, so we can discuss it with her." The knight suggested and so the three devils continued on their way.

Twenty minutes later, they arrived and without wasting any time explained about the sudden meeting with one of the current 72 pillars in the Underworld. Rias decided to postpone the discussion for after lunch as she and the rest prepared a quite normal feast for an ordinary day. They invited Baraqiel to eat with them, but the man politely refused, saying that he must leave and return to Grigori. Akeno and Koneko also passed the lunch, because they had unconsciously fallen asleep in their rooms.

Half an hour after lunch, the devils that were present gathered at the swimming pool in the mansion`s backyard to take their time relaxing and discussing random stuff, especially the matter with Diodora. Now even Asia become somewhat gloomy, which reflected on the girl`s activity as she began speaking less than usual. The crimson-haired woman reassured her that devil was a nice person as he constantly falls in love with girls, going extreme height such as to take them to dinner in fancy restaurants and other things that will make a female feel pleased. However, Issei didn`t keep his disliking of the guy to himself and showed it loud and clear to the rest.

Right now, Kiba and Xenovia were taking a swim in the pool, while Rias and company stood by a pair wooden benches and wooden table just couple of meters from the water. The topic was still Diodora`s appearance, as the one of Baraqiel was left in the background and no one wanted to bring it to discussion.

"I still can`t believe you, Asia, had encountered a devil of such class in your past." Rias commented.

"That guy sounds so cool the way you describe it." Gasper spoke up hesitatingly.

"After all, he is well admired among the young devils along other high-class such as my brother, Sairaorg, Rias, Sona, Seekvaira Agares and others." Ravel stated explained. "Come to think of it, he is the one most admired by women all around the Underworld."

"He doesn`t seem much on first look to me, thought." Hyoudou stated with a sulky look on his face. "I bet he isn`t even half strong as Riser is."

"That is obvious from miles away, but still thank you for complimenting Nii-sama." The said devil`s sister thanked politely.

"You know, I didn`t intend to compliment your brother, just compare him with this Diodora bastard." The pawn replied back. "I still won`t forgive him for making the President cry."

"Ahem, I am sorry to interrupt both of you when you are about to reach a agreement on something, but let`s pay attention on the situation at present." The heiress to the Gremory family stopped their quite 'normal' conversation.

"That`s right." The brown-haired male agreed. "The fact that the guy proposed to Asia to marry him out of nowhere really is hitting on my nerves."

"Issei-senpai, you look more nervous than Asia-senpai is." Valdi commented his senior`s words and actions.

"He is right, Ise. Diodora is a nice boy, so there is no reason for us to worry about it." The household`s master supported her bishop`s statement and then turned towards Argento. "Asia, how do you feel about all of this?"

The latter didn`t answer right away and sank in deep though instead, making her friends to wait what was she about to say. Meanwhile, the two knights got out of the pool and joined the others at the table. Silence was ruling over as no one dared to interrupt or get in former nun`s thoughts. Suddenly, she lifted her head, showing a big and sincere smile on her faces.

"I am glad that I helped Diodora-san and I hope we can be friends with him from now on." The green-eyed bishop spoke up with a cheerful voice.

"I see. That`s good then." Rias stated with smile on her own.

"You say friends, but he proposed to you, didn`t he?" Ravel interrupted.

"My only wish is to be Issei-san`s side and the rest of you." Asia replied and put a hand on her chest.

"Asia-san sure has become a great member of our family." Kiba commented.

"She sure has." The crimson-haired woman added.

"Now that`s left is Akeno-senpai and Koneko-chan to cheer up as well." Gasper said optimistically.

"Tatsumi has yet to return too." Quarta corrected her friend.

"Crap, forgot that Bro is missing, since I haven`t trained for the past five days now." Hyoudou blurted out.

"By the way, Rias, did you ask Tatsumi-sama to train Hyoudou Issei?" Ravel questioned, turning towards the other pure-blooded devil.

"No, it was Ise, who asked Tatsumi to help him with the training." Gremory answered. "To be honest, it surprised even me."

"I asked him to do so in order to become stronger, but who would knew Bro`s training would be so damn hard." The pawn commented, remembering what he went through for only two months.

"I was surprised too when I saw Tatsumi-kun ordering Issei-kun to put a suit of armor and swim upstream of the river near our town." Kiba added.

"Yeah, it was fun to watch, considering that it even got Koneko-chan smiling." The other knight added and slightly giggled, shortly followed by the rest.

"Hey, I almost drowned couple of times." Issei defended himself. "It is not something to laugh at."

"Senpai`s methods are just absolutely different from ours." Valdi added next.

"Anyway, let`s enjoy the day to the fullest despite its gloomy start." The younger of the Gremorys said with a smile.

"Yeah, recently has been full of unexpected visitors. First it was Koneko-chan`s sister, then Akeno-san`s father and now the devil that Asia has saved in the past." The brown-haired male quickly summarized the events. "What is left is for someone to fall from the sky like in the movies." He finished and got up from the bench.

Suddenly, a strong white light began glowing from above, earning everyone`s attention as it glowed like that for a minute until it finally faded away and just like that someone appeared from it, who fell straight towards Hyoudou.

"Issei-san, watch out!" Asia called out.

However, it was too late as the body met that of the brown-eyed teen and pushed it down on the ground, letting out a loud sound that echoed through the area. The devils stood still and watched in amazement what just happened, which was that someone actually fell down from the sky just like the pawn predicted. Yuuto acted quickly and went to help his friend move the person and get up. As soon as that was done, everyone shot a look at that someone and blinked in surprise when they did so.

Lying down unconscious on the grass there was a girl around the same age as Issei, Asia, Xenovia and Kiba. She had a long black hair that reached all the way to her knees and red eyes and wore a black cloak. Under it, there was dark sleeveless mini dress with a white color and a red tie. Her attire was continued by a red belt that had a red side skirt cover. She also wore it with long black socks and black shoes as well as red gauntlets and black gloves. Another strange thing was that she had some kind of tattoos on her body and face, and there was a Japanese sword in her right hand.

"It's a girl." Gasper said what was on everyone`s mind.

"What should we do?" Argento asked first.

"Ise, Yuuto, take her inside the mansion. Asia, you are in charge of finding if she has any wounds and if so heal them. I will see if there are any documents of her in that can give us some information." Rias replied.

Hyoudou and Kiba did as told and took her to a free room in the mansion, followed by Asia and their master, while the rest returned to the living room on the first floor and wait to hear some interesting news. One hour passed without knowing and so they gave up on that and decided to spent time how each of them wanted. And so, the day continued normally until got five o`clock in the afternoon.

Currently, Kiba, Issei, Ravel, Gasper and Xenovia were sitting in the same living room, waiting for Argento and the crimson-haired woman to inform them if something happens. Even so, they continued to talk between themselves as if nothing special happened. Suddenly, the door opened and from it came the household`s queen and rook as they had finally woken up from their unexpected sleep.

"Akeno-senpai, Koneko-chan, you are awake." Valdi called out.

"I am deeply sorry for being absent, but I was just thinking over things when I fell asleep without noticing." Himejima apologized herself.

"…I am sorry for staying in my room all this time as well." The white-haired devil did the same, following her senior.

"It`s okay." The pawn reassured them. "Well, you missed some events, though."

"Oh my, what did we miss?" The black-haired woman asked curiously.

"First, Diodora Astraroth showed up and offered Asia a marriage, because she has saved him in the past." Quarta started explaining. "And then, a girl fell down from the sky and now is being looked after by Asia and the President."

"Honestly, interesting things tend to happen to your household. I am really glad that I came to live with you." The only pure-blooded devil in the room commented.

"Did you understand now?" Hyoudou questioned with a voice saying 'I told you, didn`t I?' "We are…" He tried to say something more, but got cut of when the Gremory`s female bishop opened one of the doors.

"The girl just woke up." She spoke up as if she was in a great hurry.

The others didn`t wait for an invitation and followed their friend to the room in which they placed her. In less than two minutes, the devils opened the door to see their newest quest awake and sitting on the bed. It was at that very moment, they saw her eyes, dark red as the color of the blood.

"So, she has finally come to consciousness." Rias interrupted from behind everyone and urged them to either enter or move aside.

And so, they entered and stood around the unknown person as silence moved in, but it was quickly broken by the crimson-haired devil.

"Hello!" She greeted politely.

"Where I am?" The girl asked with a patient voice, but a face that she was surprised.

"You are inside my mansion as we found you unconscious and took you in." The heiress to the Gremory family continued. "Are you okay?"

"I am fine." The latter replied and bowed her head down. "Thank you for taking me in."

"There`s no need to thank us. My name is Rias Gremory and those are my friends." The pure-blooded devil introduced herself and pointed to the others. "The two blonde girls are Asia Argento and Ravel Phenex, the three boys are Hyoudou Issei, Kiba Yuuto and Gasper Valdi, the blue-haired girl is Xenovia Quarta and the white-haired is Koneko Toujo, and finally the black-haired lady is Himejima Akeno." She stopped and turned back towards the guest. "And what`s yours?"

"Akame!" The latter replied with a wary voice, not looking at the others.

"It`s such a wonderful name." Asia commented.

"Yeah, it sure…" Issei tried to support his friend`s words, but stopped as if something hit him. "Wait, did you say Akame?"

"Indeed, I think I have heard this name before." Xenovia added and put a thinking pose.

Everyone seemed to be trying to figure out why this name sounded so familiar and when they have heard it, until the crimson-haired woman`s eyes suddenly widened, suggesting that she has remembered.

"Could you perhaps be Akame from Night Raid?" Rias asked the guest.

Hearing that, the girl`s eyes widened instantly as she acrobatically jumped from the bed, landing next to her sword, picking it without a second of hesitation and took a fighting stance with her right hand on the handle.

"Is this for real?" Xenovia blurted out. "Is that Akame?"

The pure-blooded devil, however, slowly approached the guest. "Wait, we don`t want to hurt you, trust us."

"How do you know about me and the group?" The former assassin asked with pressing, yet calm voice.

"To be honest, we know someone that has been in the same group as you." The crimson-haired woman explained calmly, to which the guest arched an eyebrow. "I am talking about Tatsumi."

"Tatsumi?" Akame repeated in a surprised voice. "But he died."

"You see, the world that you are in now is totally different. Our and your friend was sent here about three months ago right after he died." The queen continued the explanation.

"Another world, you say?" Akame repeated again.

"Yes." The household`s master answered. "And judging by your appearance you must have died there too, right?"

"No." Was the guest`s short answer filled with distrust.

"Then, what happened to you?" Quarta questioned next.

The member Night Raid didn`t answer immediately and instead scanned the people before her and it was right after she was certain that they had no bad intentions that she spoke up. "Last night, I remember falling asleep normally and then I heard a voice, which said that I am chosen to start anew and then everything went black before my eyes, until I just woke up." The former member of Night Raid explained.

"The voice must have belonged to a creature, or to be more specific, a dragon that calls himself the 'Great Red'." Hyoudou suggested the most likely cause of the current events.

"A dragon… Do you mean a danger beast?" The red-eyed assassin asked again.

"Not quite. It is a creature that lives in a place called the 'Dimensional Gap', a dimension between worlds, known as one of the strongest existences." Rias replied back. "According to Tatsumi, it was that dragon that sent him here."

And again another period of few seconds of silence occurred before Akame replied. "I see." She said and deadpanned. "So Tatsumi is alive." She finished and put a small smile on her face. "Where is he?"

The following question caught the devils in a surprise as no one dared to say that he has gone missing, which let silence to take control once again. The guest on the other hand waited patiently with pushing them.

"Well, you see…" Issei started. "…One day ago we fought against dangerous opponents, who wanted take Koneko-chan with them and almost succeeded, but then Bro… I mean Tatsumi saved us and literally took her place just when they were about to escape by teleporting."

"In other words, he is with the enemy right now. Is that right?" The black-haired assassin questioned again.

"Shortly put, yes." Rias confirmed. "He has yet to return, but don`t worry I am sure he will come back anytime soon."

"I guess you are right." Night Raid`s former member agreed and just like that the sound of what appeared to be hunger echoed through the entire room and it was obvious that it came from her.

"If you are hungry, I can make something for you." Asia stated, but received only a nod with head.

"No wonder she`s hungry." Xenovia commented, looking at the said girl, when her eyes stopped on the sword in her left hand.

"Hey, can I take a look at your weapon?" She questioned and pointed towards the Imperial Arm.

This is earned her a instant glare from Akame as she tightened the grip around the katana`s handle. "No!" She said sharply and followed Argento out of the room, leaving the others behind.

"That was some crazy glare she gave you, Xenovia." Issei said, commenting the assassin`s reaction.

"I got the creeps from it." Gasper added.

"Her glare just now reminded me of how Tatsumi used to look at me upon coming to this world." The female knight replied.

"Anyway, let`s go and get things ready for dinner. Now that we have a guest we might as well put some more effort to it." Rias explained and left the room, shortly followed by her friends.

And so, another day came close to its end in which the devils met from a fallen angel that with connections to Akeno, a crazy devil of the 72 pillars that has been saved by Asia in the past and finally, a former member of the same group from which was their fellow friend, Tatsumi and it was not just someone, but the one and only Akame, the strongest assassin in the whole Empire, feared and admired by her enemies. She was now in the same world as the green-eyed teen as the desire to see him become stronger every single second.

**So, another chapter of "Second Life" is finished. This one was actually quite easier than the last two, so I was able to finish it a week ago, but couldn`t upload it earlier than now.**

**Well, getting to the point, this chapter is mostly about the 'unexpected visitors' that showed themselves to the Occult Research Club and of course the most interesting out of the three is our lovely merciless assassin, the Ace of Night Raid, one of the best girls in the AgK franchise, Akame. :D So, yeah, she is the character that I have been hinting from some time now, although it was a great dilemma the choose out of her, Leone, Lubbock and Kurome, but in the end my number 1 favorite female character from the series won the battle. I also want to use this chance and remind that my story is afterwards the events of the Akame ga Kill anime, so don`t complain to me why Akame has marks all over her body, which she got from using Murasame`s trump card to defeat Esdeath.**

**Basically, that`s all I had to say. I hope that you liked my work. As always, feedbacks are welcomed, but I am not going to say which ones, because you most probably know that very well already. : ) **


	16. Chapter 16

_**Chapter 16 – The girl that survived**_

**Third day without Tatsumi**

The rest of the day just passed by normally and so it came the next one for the Occult Research Club, facing it without their brown-haired former assassin, but now they had another one with them, Akame. The devils seemed pretty happy about their last unexpected visitor from yesterday, while the black-haired teen was still acting wary of them. Something, Tatsumi did as well during the first day of the life as a devil. Rias explained most things in a detailed matter to their guest, starting by the fact that they are not humans, but devils instead and that she turned the Tatsumi into one as well in order to save him, which made the former Night Raid member glad and warm up a little to the others. Then, the heiress to the Gremory family continued with way the devils society works, followed with an explanation about other supernatural beings like angels and fallen angels, dragons and more.

The morning, the youngsters woke up all around nine o`clock, had an fast breakfast and gathered in the living room on the first floor to discuss their plan for the day and random stuff to keep the conversation going. It was like the gloomy mood from yesterday`s morning was completely gone as even Akeno and Koneko participated more in the activities. Everyone looked happy and showed it clearly as the appearance of newest guest was mainly the reason for it as they found quite interesting facts about her. For example it stunned them to see Akame`s appetite, which surpassed most of the females with an ease and not just them, but Gasper and Yuuto as well. Only Issei, Xenovia and Koneko tended to rival the assassin at that matter.

It didn`t take long before they formulated a plan for the day, which consisted of club discussion until noon, lunch and after that few hours at the beach down the hill on which the mansion was, but as for after then, it still remained unclear. And so couple of hours rolled up and it got twelve o`clock and preparations for lunch had to done. Asia, Rias and the red-eyed teen tasked themselves with creating it, while the others were waiting in the living room on the first floor.

Right at that moment, the three females were halfway finished with the meal, which was going to be baked eggs with fresh vegetables. The pure-blooded devil was cutting some cucumber and tomatoes, the former nun was getting plates for everyone from a cupboard and lastly the black-haired teen was backing the eggs on the hot-plate. And although the two devils cooked with desire it just paled to the passion with which the assassin did her job.

"Akame-san, you look a chief. Do you like cooking that much?" Argento asked curiously.

The latter didn`t even bother to turn around before answering. "I just love eating."

"I was surprised when you volunteered to help us with the lunch." Rias commented. Suddenly, something hit her in the head as she continued. "Speaking of which, Tatsumi also turns very serious whenever it comes to food too."

"He`s cooking is good too." She replied back, while flipping the eggs the other way around. "But Su`s meals were the best. That roasted meat that he made with crisped crust." She described, not noticing the droll that had started rolling down from her mouth.

"Su?" The two devils arched an eyebrow in wonder.

However, their confusing passed by the former assassin. "The eggs are done. We should hurry up and eat them while they are still hot." She stated.

"Ah, here are the plates." The bishop said, handing the dishes to the red-eyed teen.

"Hurry up, the others are waiting." The heiress to the Gremory family said and turned towards the door.

Just like that, the door opened and from it came out Riser`s little sister as she started speaking directly.

"Rias, we have a guest." She spoke up.

As if rehearsed, the said visitor started walking slowly towards to the kitchen and in less than a minute entered it. It was a woman around the twenties with both silver hair and eyes, wearing a blue and white French maid outfit.

"Grayfia!" The househould`s master called out in surprise.

"Good Day, Rias-sama!" Sirzechs`s wife greeted and bowed before the heiress to the family. "I apologize for disturbing you while you are in the middle of cooking."

"No, it`s nothing. You are welcome anytime." The daughter of the Gremory reassured her sister-in-law. "Is something matter?"

"I came to inform you on your Rating Game that is going to happen in the end of the next week." Lucifuge explained.

"So it`s clear who is going to be our opponent?" Rias questioned.

"Yes, but we should…" The silver-haired woman tried to say something, but stopped when her eyes spotted the former assassins. "Rias-sama, could you tell me who that person with the black hair is?"

"You see…" The crimson-haired ruin princess started. "…Her name is Akame, a friend of Tatsumi from his world. She was sent to our one yesterday and by pure coincidence landed in our backyard while we were sitting there and talking. "

Hearing that, Grayfia`s eyes slightly widened, but even so she remained calm and collected and simply scanned the girl in question. It was that moment, when she sensed something rather strange emitting from Murasame`s wielder, something not human, but not devil or anything related to the other races like fallen angels and angels either. The former member of Night Raid also kept her cool composure and analyzed the strange woman in front her. It took her only few seconds to feel the aura that surrounded her and it wasn`t like the one which most people gave out, but a strong and dangerous one.

In the same time, silence was ruling over the atmosphere as both Akame and Lucifuge continued to stare at which other, while Rias, Asia and Ravel stood like status and observed the situation with nervous looks on the their faces.

"I see." The queen finally replied. "So you are Tatsumi-kun`s comrade. I apologize for suspecting you. Grayfia Lucifuge is my name and I serve the Gremory family. It`s a pleasure to meet you."

"Akame. Same goes here." Was all the black-haired teen said.

"Well, please group yourselves so I can tell you all the news." Sirzechs`s wife said and turned around and left the kitchen.

And so, the other females prepared everything for lunch and quickly served it to the rest. About fifty minutes later, they were already done eating. The dishes were washed clean as well and all of them gathered in the living room on the first floor to hear the announcement. They quickly scattered throughout the premise as they all found a place to seat, except for the silver-haired woman, who preferred to stand. Seeing that everyone was ready to hear her out, she looked at her sister-in-law, receiving a nod from the latter.

"As you know, in the end of the next week multiple Rating Games will be held in honor of the Young Devils` Gathering that will happen shortly after that. Sirzechs-sama apologizes for taking it so long to determine who your opponent is going to be and I too. After couple of meetings the matches are all now appointed." The strongest queen explained and paused for a second. "Your opponent is going to be Sairaorg Bael-sama."

"That`s a relief. I got nervous of the thought that it can be Riser again." Hyoudou hurried and let a sigh of relief. "Right, President?" He added and turned towards his master, but the smile on his face immediately faded when he saw the seriousness in her face.

"Issei-kun, this is not something to be happy about." Akeno interrupted in.

"Although, I am glad that you are thinking highly about Nii-sama, I am afraid you got a worse opponent this time." Ravel commented, while looking at the table in front of her.

"So what should we know about this opponent of ours?" Xenovia asked, being one of the few with no knowledge about the said person.

Knowing, she would have to explain it sooner or later Rias gave out a soft sigh and spoke up. "Sairaorg Bael, he`s the heir to the Bael family and my cousin. He`s also ranked the strongest from the young devils."

"What?" The pawn evoked. "I take my words back."

"It looks like we`re going to have plenty of hard time." Kiba noted casually.

"Talk about bad luck." The other knight added next. "I guess that puts the odds in their favor."

"What are we going to do?" Gasper cried out.

"I advice you to train as much as possible and prepare for the Rating Game the best way you can." Grayfia stated.

"Damn it!" The brown-haired boy cursed. "And on top of that, Bro is still missing. If he doesn`t come back, we will be without one person." He commented further as the last sentence he said hammered like a pain in everyone as he noticed what he brought upon and hurried up to apologize. "I`m sorry."

"Grayfia-san!" Himejima called out the other queen with a weak voice. "Are there any news on where Tatsumi could be?"

"I am afraid no. It makes it harder to find him when we don`t have any idea if he is in the Underworld or in this one." The silver-haired woman answered. "Sirzechs-sama asked other devil families to report to him if they see or hear something about the matter, but so far there are no leads."

"I see." Baraqiel`s daughter muttered and bowed her head down. This instantly left impression on Akame, who had calmly observed the discussion so far. The voice that Akeno used helped the former assassin to understand just how much she cared for the green-eyed teen. The feeling of anxiety that she and the others showed pushed her to warm to them to the point that she couldn`t help, but want to reassure them.

"Don`t worry about Tatsumi." Her voice rang through the room, catching everyone`s attention. "This is not the first time that he has been in such situation, so he knows how to get out of it. Tatsumi is stronger than you think."

As if hearing this, Rias stood up from her armchair and smiled. "She`s right. And let`s not forget that he is my servant and our friend, a member of our family. Please, have faith in him."

"I think the same way." The rook stated and pulled up a small smile as well.

"Even Koneko-chan is positive about it." Yuuto added next.

"I am sure that Sirzechs-sama would have said something like that too. So, while Tatsumi-kun is facing his challenges, you should face yours." Lucifuge interrupted in. "I have to go back now, but worry not, because we will meet again before the Rating Game. Have a good day, everyone!" She finished.

Just like that, a white circle appeared underneath her and she vanished from everyone`s eyes in the blink of an eye, while this caused a few minutes silence to move in the room. That was until, Asia broke it first.

"So what are we going to do now?" The former nun asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"Let`s see…" The crimson-haired woman replied. "I suggest we go to beach to take a breather and clear our minds for now."

The rest nodded and so after twenty minutes of preparations they left the mansion and in ten more arrived at the beach. For their luck, it wasn`t crowded at all for the fact that they were the only ones there. And so they made themselves comfortable on a random place under some umbrellas and started doing what their hearts wanted. Issei, Kiba, Xenovia went for a swim in the sea and got surprised when the former assassin joined them, despite not having a swimsuit, saying that a underwear was all she needed. Koneko, Asia and Gasper played at the sand and Rias, Akeno and Ravel took the chance to do some sunbathing. Time quickly passed as it suddenly got three o`clock in the afternoon and the youngsters looked than away in what they were doing so much that it didn`t looked like they were there to train, but rather on a real summer vacation.

Just like that, they finally stopped at one place some to dry, others to sunbath, third to eat something sweat as they formed a circle and began discussing random things. Summer, swimming, delicious food, and more passed as topics and no one commented on the incoming Rating Game and their opponent. Currently, they were talking about movies that came in the cinema recently and it looked like there was nothing more to comment on it. Surprisingly a short silence moved in and everyone felt kind of awkward as if something like that happened long ago. Almost on top of the boredom, Issei thought of another topic and didn`t hesitate to bring it out.

"But, you know, I am so eager to see what kind of reaction Bro would get when he comes back and sees Akame-san." The brown-haired teen spoke up.

Hearing this for the first, everyone sent a confused looks at their friend as they began thinking how did he come up with this topic of all.

Kiba laughed softly and gently. "I bet he`ll be surprised indeed."

"It would be logical for him to be surprised." Rias joined in the conversation. "After all, they haven`t seen each other for around three months."

"What do you think, Akame-san?" Asia asked the female assassin, turning her head towards the latter.

However, the said girl returned with a confused look. "It has been one summer and half autumn since I last saw Tatsumi."

"What does that mean?" Gasper arched an eyebrow.

"Each season has about three months, so we are most probably talking for almost five months." Rias explained.

"What?" Hyoudou evoked. "Does that mean that Bro was frozen in time or something?"

"**It could be so."** A voice came from the pawn, which made everyone to go silent until Issei himself jumped from shock.

"Hey, Ddraig! Stop scarring the shit out of me like that." Issei warned from his state of shock.

But the dragon obviously thought it for funny and laughed slightly. **"Come on, partner. You should be used to it by now."**

"I`m definitely going to get a heart attack someday if this goes on." Hyoudou muttered under his nose.

"Anyway, what did you mean by that, Red Dragon Emperor?" The crimson-haired woman asked the dragon sealed inside her love`s body.

"**If that boy had really met the Great Red, then he surely had been in the Dimensional Gap. There any concept of time is lost. If so, then he most probably remained trapped in it for some amount of time before the Dragon of Dragons found him."** Ddraig explained.

"So Tatsumi-kun`s has really died once before coming here?" Kiba asked casually.

"**It`s more possible that something kept that boy from dying until Great Red found him."** The dragon explained. **"That`s so, because an ordinary creature can`t remain in the Dimensional Gap for too long without the body dematerializing. Even devils are not an exception."**

"Say what?" Issei shouted out. "Then how did Bro stayed there for that long?"

"**If I had to guess, then I would bet on that boy`s Sacred Gear."** The Red Dragon Emperor said.

"That reminds me, Akame." Rias called out to the red-eyed teen. "How did Tatsumi die?"

The questioned seemed to hit a soft spot in the assassin as she looked down at her legs, which were pressed one to another, after which followed a short silence in which the girl began to recall the events of the last day of the war between the Revolution Army and the Empire. It was something she remembered to the last detail and would remember it forever. Even thought she wished she`d forget about it, but her heart just wouldn`t let it happen. It was that way with everything that she went through so far, all the tragedy, all the misery, all the betrayal, all the sadness, all the pain, all the sorrow, all the despair, all the hatred and all the killing. Yet despite all of that, there still moments of happiness in her life, such as those with Kurome, or with the Elite Seven or with Night Raid. Those were moments Akame treasured and valued a great deal.

"He died like a hero. He died saving many." The assassin finally answered the question.

"And what did happen after that?" Ravel asked next with a tone that showed her interest in the topic. It wasn`t who knows better than the rest, but to the pure-blooded devil it was a great chance to learn something about how her savior and crush, Tatsumi, lived in the past.

"The source of the corruption, the Prime Minister was eliminated as well as the Emperor. After that the Revolutionary Army took the government of the Empire to build a better place for the people to live in." She paused for a second and after taking a look at the sky, continued. "What was left of Night Raid scattered. Our leader stayed in the capital to help with the change. And I started roaming, while doing assassination jobs where people asked me to."

"So that means that your side won the war." Kiba stated the final conclusion. "That`s great to hear."

"Yeah, it is." Xenovia supported her fellow knight. But just as she was doing it, something came to her. "Wait a sec, when you said your group scattered, I heard only about you and your leader. Then does that mean?"

Following the meaning of the questioned, Akame gave out a nod. "That`s right. Only two of us survived at the end. Two from many." She explained and stopped again. "Although, the Boss`s life spawn shorted during the war, so I don`t know if she`s alive or not."

"No way!" Issei shouted out. "This is just so unfair."

"Calm down, Ise!" His master stopped her servant by grabbing him for the right shoulder.

"Why did you continue to do assassination jobs even after the end? There would be no reason for that anymore, right?" Ravel questioned, the red-eyed assassin, bringing the attention back to her.

However, this time the girl in question didn`t answer immediately. Instead she once again dropped eyes down to her legs. After all, the answer to this question lied back at the time when she was young, when her parents sold her and Kurome to the Empire for money. As a result, they had to participate in a test to cross a dangerous forest, the survivors of which were to be taken and trained as assassin of the Empire. Just like what happened to Akame and her sister. They didn`t have much of choice to choose. Live as an assassin or die. That were the only two options she and the rest had.

"Because I`ve been doing this since young. Because it`s the only thing I can do. Because I feel in my heart that I must continue on this path and bare the wishes and resolves of all that had fallen on the way." The former member of Night Raid finally replied with a hard, unshakable voice.

"Akame-san." Asia called out with a happy voice, while wiping tears from her eyes.

"You`re incredible, Akame-senpai!" Gasper jumped out of amazement.

"**An iron will, is what people call it."** Ddraig commented.

"By the way, do you always carry your sword, Akame-san?" Akeno questioned and pointed at the weapon behind the other black-haired teen.

"Speaking of which, I was thinking of asking her the same." Hyoudou added, while scratching his forehead.

The assassin looked at the katana and then answered. "My profession requires me to be always prepared."

"Can I take a look at it?" Quarta pleaded, stretching her hand forward.

But yet again, Akame grabbed the weapon and shot a glare at the blue-haired devil. "No."

"It won`t hurt, right." The former exorcist tried to reason.

"No." And again the assassin replied with a hard voice. "You`ll cut yourself."

"So what? It heal." Xenovia insisted once again.

"No, it won`t." Once again Akame cut her off. "Not from this blade."

Hearing that, everyone arched eyebrows from confusion after which they began to staring at the weapon.

"I sense something dangerous coming from that sword." Koneko finally spoke up.

"Dangerous?" Issei eyed his senior, hoping for an explanation. Such, however, didn`t came.

Seeing that, she can`t hide it anymore, Akame took the katana and placed on her legs before her. "One-cut Killer, Murasame. That`s a poisonous blade that can kill a person with only one cut. Once the sword pierces skin, it injects a lethal poison into the victim, killing them within seconds. This is the ability of my Teigu, the Demon Sword." She explained with eyes fixed on the weapon.

"What?" The pawn evoked in astonishment. "It kills a person with only one cut. Scary."

"**Oh-ho, that world of yours sure has some interesting weapons."** The Red Dragon Emperor interrupted once again from his partner`s hand. **"First, it was that boy with the strange Sacred Gear and now that. Interesting."**

"Unbelievable!" Kiba exclaimed. "I never imaged such a sword existed."

"Me either. Even after seeing all those Holy Swords. This is just." Xenovia added in surprised matter.

And while, the rest showed their excitement and surprise impelled by the mysterious sword, Rias seemed to be rather lost in though.

'This girl...' She commented to herself. '…She`s definitely younger than me and still… Her determination to live is far stronger than mine.' The pure-blooded devil continued to speak in her mind. 'I feel like her life has been far worse than that of everyone here.'

"President, what`s wrong?" Issei questioned his master, noticing her silent matter.

"N-No, it`s nothing." The heiress to the Gremory family replied, instantly putting a smile on her face.

Suddenly, the smell of dank air got reached Akame`s nose as she immediately lifted her head up just to see some dark clouds coming in from the West.

"It`s going to rain soon. We should go back inside." She stated and picked up her things.

The devils agreed and packed up as well and headed towards the mansion. Ten minutes later they reached the building just as the clouds were starting to gather right above them. Noticing it, they youngsters quickly headed inside and straight for the first floor`s living-room, but just when Issei was about to open the door that lead to it, the former assassin pushed his hand from the handle and grabbed her sword.

"There`s someone inside and more than one person for sure." She said just as sounds echoed from inside.

"Well, let`s see who it is." The household`s master replied and moved in front and opened the door, entering the premise first, followed by the rest.

It was then, when the view of one man and thirteen women appeared before their eyes. And while the females didn`t distinct much between each other, the man had a characteristic dark green hair and yellow eyes, wearing expensive clothing, appearing to be somewhere about Issei, Asia, Xenovia, Kiba and Akame`s age. Seeing them, he got up from the sofa on which he was sitting and bowed.

"Good Afternoon, Rias Gremory!" He greeted the crimson-haired woman. "I apologize for making myself comfortable, but there wasn`t anyone when we arrived."

"Diodora?" The latter called out in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Hyoudou`s eyes instantly widened upon recalling the short meeting with him just one day ago. 'It`s that guy from yesterday.'

"I came here to propose you an offer." The heir to the Astraroth family answered. "Well, let us have a seat first, shall we?" He added.

The group didn`t reply and instead entered in. And so, Akeno quickly went to the kitchen and made some coffee and served it to the man and returned standing next to her friends, except for Rias and Ravel, who as pure-blooded devils had the luxury to be able to seat. The girls that accompanied Diodora also remained standing. Noticing that everything was ready for the discussion, the guest snapped fingers and just like that two out of the thirteen girls made two steps forward before the rest.

"I am aware that you have to prepare for the Rating Game next week and I heard you are going against Sairaorg Bael." He spoke up.

"It`s all pure luck." Rias answered. "What about your opponent?"

"I got the easier match up if I can say so. My opponent is Sona Sitri." Astraroth answered comically."

"As I said just now. It`s all pure luck." The crimson-haired woman replied with a careless voice and just then shot a serious look at the guest. "She may not be Sairaorg, but it would be wise of you not to underestimate her abilities and that of her servants." Rias advised with a casual voice.

"I will keep that in mind." The green-haired male said. "Well, getting straight to the point of my visit. I would like to trade bishops with you."

This instantly hammered in the head of Sirzechs`s sister, to which she raised her left eyebrow and after that shot a look at the former nun of the family as if she knew, who was the guest aiming for.

"You wish for Asia, am I right?" She questioned with a sharp and serious voice.

"I appreciate that you catch up quickly." Diodora said. "The deal is not bad. I offer you one of my bishops for yours." He added and pointed back towards the girls that had stepped in front of the others.

One of them had a blonde hair, while the other had blue. They both appeared like high school students and wore blue and white maid fashion.

"You want me to trade my servant. Are you serious?" Rias asked with suspicious eyes.

"Yes, that`s how it…" The latter tried to explain, but got interrupted by the former.

"I`m sorry, but Asia is a precious and irreplaceable member of my peerage and she is like a younger sister to me. There`s no way I could ever agree to sell her out. And here I thought you understood women more. It`s such a shame." The crimson-haired ruin princess replied, refusing the offer.

"President-san!" Argento called out from happiness.

"That`s too bad." Astraroth stated, while getting up. "I really thought we could come to agreement without any troubles."

"Is that so?" Someone`s voice suddenly rang through the room and it didn`t belong to neither of the two female pure-blooded devils.

As everyone followed it correctly, their eyes stopped on the red-eyed teen, who was currently standing to the left of the sofa on which Rias and Ravel were sitting.

"How dare you question Diodora-sama?" One of the said man`s servants shouted in anger. It was his queen. She had silver hair and yellow eyes and wore similar outfit like the two bishops. "A low-class devil like you should know her place."

"And if I`m not a devil to begin with?" The wielder of Murasame returned coldly, catching the women unprepared to answer.

"Then who you might be?" Astraroth questioned.

"Her name is Akame and she is a friend of our household and a human." Rias explained instead of the latter.

"So why does a lowly human think she can question me?" The male pure-blooded devil asked again.

"You`re lying. That`s why." The former assassin answered.

"What are you talking about?" The man evoked, but yet there was no sign of surprise in his face.

"Life experience has tough me to see when someone`s lying just by his expression. Like the one you have now." The latter explained.

"No way!" Xenovia blurted out. "She learned that just by his expression."

Deep silence moved in as the tension began rising with every past moment. No one spoke and no one did anything, just simply stared at the green-haired man to see his reaction when it suddenly happened. He broke out in a laugher that lasted for not more than five seconds.

"Amazing!" He exclaimed, while calming down as his expression changed and the one of a nice and normal looking person got replaced by one of a maniac. "I never thought someone would blow my act like that." He added and snapped his right hand`s fingers. "Do it, now!"

Just like that a random girl from the group behind him made an impressive long jump all the way to Hyoudou and Argento, who held hands and out of nowhere kicked the boy. The hit broke the grip of the devils` hands and the pawn flew straight at the wall at the back. After that, the girl grabbed the former nun and passed it to Diodora, who instantly jumped back to his peerage.

"Asia!" Xenovia shouted.

"I`m afraid our meeting ends here." The heir to the Astraroth clan said and smirked.

"Wait for me, Diodo…" The girl that separated Argento from her group called out and tried to go back.

However, that failed as she was forced to stop when a blade came out from the left and stopped just few inches from her throat. Noticing that, Astratoth`s servant followed the direction from which it came in order to see to whom it belonged, only to spot the red-eyed teen standing a step away from her with a dead serious look on the face. Seeing that, the black-haired assassin turned towards the other group of devils.

"Give us back the girl or I`m going to kill this one right here, right now." Akame threatened.

"Akame-san, what are you doing?" Akeno asked.

"That`s pretty interesting." Diodora finally replied. "But do you honestly expect me to believe that you will do it?"

"No. I don`t." The assassin replied, voice, lacking any emotion in it.

Just as everyone was waiting for her to kill the girl, Akame launched herself with a single jump straight at Diodora with speed beyond his abilities to follow. Nearing the target, she used this opening without hesitation and swung Murasame at the man`s naked neck.

However, just before the strike was fact, an random girl from the peerage behind the man jumped out and pushed her master out of harm`s way, taking his place just as the attacker`s sword ran through her chest. Short sounds of pain escaped the girl`s lips. Blood splashed out of her body, some flying on Akame`s face, others on the area around. In a second, the body dropped on the floor as more red water continued to drip down her cloths. Yet there was something else. Some strange black marks had appeared on the dead body.

"Curse it." Astraroth roared. Still, he took this chance to back a little when a green magical circle appeared under them and they teleported before they could be attacked again.

After that, a dead silence fell on. No one said nor did anything. The devils stood still and watched at the red-eyed teen on the other side of the room. Some in amazement, others in shock, third in fear. Only the red-eyed assassin remained unfazed, while observing the girl that she just killed.

"That bastard, he kidnapped Asia!" Issei finally broke the silence by shouting and clenching his teeth out of anger.

"Akeno, make a teleportation circle quickly. We are going to the Astraroth residence to save Asia." Rias ordered.

"No!" Akame cut her off. "If this residence is that guy`s home, then he would expect you to follow him there. That`s why he will go elsewhere that you don`t know about."

"She`s right." The left girl said. "Diodora-sama won`t head back to his mansion."

"Then where he will go? Please tell me." The crimson-haired woman pleaded, kneeling down to the latter.

"What`s the point? There`s nothing positive for me from telling you. It`s all over for me." The girl stated and broke down in tears.

"What do you mean by that?" Kiba questioned.

Two minutes were needed before the outsider could calm down, which she showed by wiping her tears off and swallowing really hard. "We, the servants of Diodora Astraroth, were all once servants of Churches throughout the world, who had caught his eyes. In order to have us, he purposely dated us until the heads of the Church noticed it and banished us. And after we lost all hope, that man appeared and turned us in devils under his control. It`s like that with everyone."

"What?" Issei evoked. "That guy is sick."

"What about Asia? Why would he want her?" Rias questioned with a forced tone.

"Her story is just like ours." The girl replied and stopped for a second before continuing. "One day, some time ago, Diodora-sama stumbled on your friend, while she was still working under the serve of God. So in order to get her exiled from the Church, he intentionally wounded himself and appeared before Asia Argento. As a result the girl healed him using her Sacred Gear and it didn`t took long before she was kicked out. After that, she came into the possession of a fallen angel named Raynare, who made a deal with my master to steal Twilight Healing and kill her after which she was to give your friend to Diodora-sama, so he can reincarnate her himself."

"What? Raynare and that bastard schemed this together!" The pawn raised his voice even more, not being able to control his anger.

"Yes. However, there was something unexpected in my master`s plan and that was the appearance of the Red Dragon Emperor and Rias Gremory that saved Asia Argento before she could be passed onto Diodora-sama."

"So that`s how it was." Rias stated. "I`m begging you, tell us where he`s going to take Asia."

"He is staying in a shrine in about one hundred meters South of the town by the name Himeji. Also, Diodora-sama has allied himself with Khaos Brigade, so there might be some of them guarding him."

"I know where it is. Irina and I passed by it when we were on the chase for the Holy Swords." The blue-haired knight stated.

"Thank you and we`ll be careful." The heiress to the Gremory clan said and got her up and turned towards the others. "Prepare yourselves, my cute servant. We are going after them."

"You… The one with the Japanese sword, please do me a favor and kill me." The girl called out to the former assassin, catching her attention.

"Hey, wait!" Issei evoked. "What are you thinking?"

"After being banished from the Church my life has been all about servicing Diodora Astraroth. But now when that is over, there is nothing left for me to do." The latter explained. "Please!"

Hearing that, the red-eyed female didn`t even replied and simply went beside the girl and raised Murasame to her shoulders as she prepared to strike down the girl. And although, she understood the tough life the person had, it still didn`t change to fact that she helped with the plan, making her guilty as well. It was Night Raid`s ways to eliminate those who supported the evil doers and this case was just like the others.

"Wait, Akame-san! Are you really going to do it?" Kiba asked, while watching at the former assassin`s eyes. "There`s no need to kill her."

"Yuuto-senpai is right." Koneko interrupted in. "It won`t do us any good."

"No. I want it." Diodora`s servant protest and jumped up and grabbed Murasame, cutting herself in the process. After which, she pointed in to her throat.

However, there was no reason for it anymore as she felt something wrapping around her heart, until it stopped beating not a second later. As a result, the body loosened and quietly dragged down on the floor. Black marks on her face and hand.

The former assassin simply eyed the body and then putted the Imperial Arm back in its scabbard.

"Hurry up, we don`t have time." The household`s master urged. "Ravel, please stay here and if someone shows up inform him or her on what is going on."

"I will." The other pure-blooded devil replied. "Be careful, everyone!"

"I`m coming too." The red-eyed assassin said, joining the group.

"Thanks!" Rias thanked. "Listen up, everyone! We`re going to teleport to the town of Himeji. After that Xenovia will lead the way. We`re going to save Asia no matter what."

"Understood!" The rest replied at the same time just as a red magical circle appeared beneath them and they vanished from sight, leaving only the youngest child of the Phenex and the girl that was abandoned behind.

**And so, chapter 16 is done. This one prolonged quite a lot, for which I`m truly sorry. Recently has been stressful for me for various reasons and that took a effect on my writing. That aside, lectures in university have been keeping me busy too. So yeah, I`m sorry, but it`s just as it is. It would have taken me more time though if it wasn`t for the fanfiction 'The Dragon of Night Raid'. It inspired me a great deal to continue writing this story.**

**About the chapter, nothing much to say. I mostly tried to touch a fragment of Akame`s past as a assassin, how she lived during the war and what she did after it ended, being the only one that truly survived at the end. Next, I added a connection to the Diodora accident. Well, it pretty much stands out for what are the next chapter going to be about. **

**Also I gave a small hint for what`s the next Arc is going to be about, since this one is reaching its culmination as Diodora kidnaps Asia and the OCR leave to save her.**

**Another thing, I want to ask for people to stop saying to me 'watch Akame ga Kill English dubbed. There that and that and that.' It seriously pisses me off. So I`m going to say, I hate english dubs of anime. It just doesn`t suit my liking. That`s it. **

**Also, stop complaining that you mistake 'the brown-haired', 'Hyoudou'. I use them when Tatsumi and Issei are separated, so I think it`s clear, who I`m talking about. Besides, from my school days I learned that too much repeating names in stories tend to bore the readers.**

**Honestly, I`m out of this people, who respect other people`s opinions and won`t try to change them if they don`t try to change mine. But recently, seeing people trolling everywhere is pissing me off.**

**So for the good God, stop it, damn it. I`m trying my best so you know. **

**Thanks for everyone, who spared some of their free time to read my work. I hope you liked it. I am not going to mention the stuff about the feedbacks that I usually do, because I don`t want to get repetitive.**

**Well, that`s all! See you!**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17 – _**Awakened power**_

Twenty minutes had passed since the Occult Research Club left to save their friend, Asia, from the traitor Diodora Astraroth, who kidnapped her right before their eyes. The former assassin, Akame, also went with them to help and only the youngest child of the Phenex clan remained behind just in case if someone came while they were gone. Outside of the mansion, the weather got worse and it started raining, which made the situation even more depressing for the bishop. The girl couldn`t help herself, but worry for the safety of her friends and deep inside her the feeling of uselessness was starting to eat her slowly and painfully. And although, she believed in the devils of the Gremory household, she wished that someone would come to help them. If only her brothers, Ruvel and Riser were here, things would have looked brighter. Even, if the club`s advisor, Azazel was in present, the tables could have been turned easily for them.

Right now, Ravel sat on of one of the sofas in the living room on the first floor and simply stared at her legs with a depressed and worried expression on her face, while trying her best not to look at the two dead corpses that were spread on the floor. At first, it shocked her to see Akame taking a life so easily as if it was an normal day`s routine. But soon enough, she got over it as long as she didn`t look at them. And so complete silence moved in and it appeared that it was going to last for a long time.

All of a sudden, the sound of the mansion`s entrance being opened ringed in her ears, shortly followed by a voice.

"Finally made it back." Someone spoke up. However, it didn`t take long for the bishop to mark it as a familiar male one.

"This voice is..." The pure-blooded devil whispered as signs of hope began to dwell inside her.

"I got wet again all over, nya." Another person complained.

"I told you to teleport us, but no. You had to be the stubborn one." The first person replied.

"Well then, Kuroka-sama and I will go to report to Vali-sama." A third person stated. Another woman by the sound of it.

"Later!" The first person replied. Just like that, the sound of footsteps started coming closer and closer to the premise and after few seconds the door opened, revealing none other than the family`s gone-missing member.

"Tatsumi-sama!" The blonde-haired girl called out and jumped from the sofa and ran towards her friend as she literally jumped at him, crashing against his body.

"Hey, Ravel!" The former assassin greeted. "What`s wrong? You sound troubled. And where is everyone?" It was then that his eyes spotted the dead bodies on the floor and just when he was going to overlook them, something caught his attention. Peering at the closer corpse, he saw strange black marks on the girl`s face. But to him, they looked familiar. 'Those marks…'

His line of thoughts was broken when Ravel spoke up. "Bad things happened. A devil by the name Diodora Astraroth came and kidnapped Asia-san right before our eyes. Rias and the rest went after him." She quickly explained the situation.

"What?" Hyoudou evoked. "That damn bastard!"

"So he waited for me to give him a portion of my powers in order to do that." Another unknown voice rang from behind the boy.

This made the bishop to lean her head to the right in order to see to whom it belonged only to spot a girl around her age with long black hair and grey eyes, wearing a gothic Lolita fashion.

"Tatsumi-sama, who`s that?" The youngest child of the Phenex questioned.

"I`ll explain later." The latter replied and turned around, breaking the hug with the girl as he ran down the corridor towards the mansion entrance.

"Tatsumi-sama, wait!" Ravel called out, running after him all the way outside under the heavy rain. "What are you going to do?"

"What else? I`ll sprint back to Himeji." The former assassin answered, while looking at the distant horizon.

Suddenly, Ophis`s voice echoed again. "It took us around six hours to get here from there."

"That`s because a certain someone got us lost. But, I know the way now and I`m gonna run it for an hour." The boy explained and looked at his right hand. "Are you ready partner?"

"**I am ready whenever you are."** The dragon spoke up.

Hyoudou nodded and shouted. "Incursio!" A second later, he stood there wearing the Demon Armor. "Ravel, use my mobile phone to call Saji from the Sona-san`s peerage. Call and ask for help." He said, turning his head towards the blonde-haired girl.

"Where can I find it?" The bishop asked.

"In my room." Her crush answered.

"Okay, I will." She replied and nodded.

Hearing that, the boy turned to the left, leaned forward and jumped forward. As soon as he made contact with the ground, he continued running so fast that Ravel couldn`t notice when he disappeared in the distance.

"I am getting inside." The Infinite Dragon God said as she turned around and headed in the mansion.

Ravel on the other hand stood silent and watched after the direction in which her friend vanished when something hit her in the head. 'Wait, I forgot to tell him about Akame-san.' She said in her mind, but remembered what she had to do and shock her head. 'I must hurry up and do as Tatsumi-sama told me to.' She thought to herself, while running into the building.

Meanwhile, the Occult Research Club had already gotten out of Himeji and now was closing in on the shrine in which Diodora stayed at. They were able to find the way quickly thanks to the blue-haired knight, who knew the way and lead the group. Everyone was trying hard not to fall behind or get too much in order to stick together and be ready for if the enemy attacked, which was highly possible given the situation.

Currently, they just had passed by a three-way split up path, taking the middle one in the process. The ground was wet because of a rain that seemed to have fallen shortly before their arrival, which made it slippery enough for one to fall pretty easily by the slightest mistake. On top of that there were many plashes of water, making the terrain a really tricky place to run on. The group moved in compact as Quarta was in front, followed by Yuuto and Akame, behind them were Issei, Rias, Akeno and Koneko, who was caring Gasper on her back, due to the bishop not being able to keep up with their speed. As they ran, the tip of the shrine`s roof started to show itself from behind the trees.

"We`ll be there in ten minutes." Xenovia stated, without turning her head back.

"Diodora`s servants most probably are going to fight us." The queen said.

"Most likely, yes." Rias replied. "But we must save Asia no matter what."

"Of course! I won`t forgive that bastard." The pawn spoke up, clenching his left hand into fist, which was already equipped with his Sacred Gear.

"Let us show them what happens when they pick up a fight with us." Kiba stimulated, while holding his Balance Breaker, the sword of Betrayer in his right hand.

The former assassin remained silent and simply observed the surrounding without stopping not only to keep cautious for the opponents, but also in order to get an understanding of the terrain so that she could use it to the fullest. It helped her that they were at a forest due the fact that she had grown into mountain-type areas, thus she was pretty capable of fighting in them. Yet, the teen was generally in disadvantage since she didn`t know anything on how skilled the enemies were or how they fought in the first place. Suddenly, while running, she sensed the presence of one of them coming from above as she fasten her footing and outran the blue-haired knight and pointed to the rest to stop.

"What is it, Akame-senpai?" Gasper questioned, still being cared by the rook.

The latter didn`t reply immediately and instead pointed up with her left hand`s forefinger. "The enemy is here."

Just like that, a car-sized object came down from the air and crashed against couple of trees that stood before the youngsters, the impact of which caused a explosion. Smoke erupted and started drifting high in the air, but surprisingly no flames could be seen. After the smokescreen faded away, it revealed the picture of a crater with the size of a big truck.

"Was that what I think it was?" Hyoudou asked curiously to be certain.

"Yes, it was a spear of light. No doubt about that." The crimson-haired woman answered.

It was that moment a voice echoed in their ears as they tracked it`s direction correctly and lifted all heads up as they spotted a figure floating in the air with what seemed to be black-feather wings.

"A fallen angel." Koneko stated.

However, that was just a little part of the problem. "No way… You should be frozen." Rias called out to the enemy.

"Kokabiel!" Xenovia evoked, recognizing the identity of the man.

"Look who decided to drop by." The Cadre stated.

"Why? Wasn`t that bastard…" Issei exclaimed.

The man cut him off. "…sealed, huh? Did you honestly believe that it I`ll rot there? Well, I have the guys from Khaos Brigade to thank for that." The fallen angel stated.

"What?" The pawn roared out loud. "Why would they do that?"

"Is it not obvious?" Kokabiel mocked. "The answer is one,"

"War." Xenovia spoke up through teeth.

"Oh-ho, if that isn`t one of the exorcists from last time." The Cadre said and grinned. "So you became a devil knowing that God is dead." He added and broke in laugher.

Hearing that, Quarta felt anger dwelling up inside her as she tightened the grip around her Holy Sword as thoughts of the time that she spent serving the Church under God`s name started rushing through her mind. After learning of the Lord`s death during the last Great War, she started questioning herself for what purpose did she kept believing in that path as those years of her life were memorized with great hardship. However, all that changed when she joined the ranks of Rias`s peerage as she began viewing this differently and also thinking more for herself. Just like that, she tightened her hand around the handle of her weapon and shot a determinate look at the opponent.

"I decided to become a devil myself and I don`t regret it." She shouted load.

"Interesting, that look is totally different from the one that you had before." Kokabiel commented.

"So you have allied yourself with Khaos Brigade?" Himejima questioned.

"For now, but that all will change when war breaks loose." The man replied.

"Sorry to break your fun, but we`re in a hurry." Issei yelled at the enemy.

"Is that so?" The fallen angel provoked. "Then come and defeat me." He finished by creating a huge spear of light and threw it at the devils.

"Coming!" Akame warned.

Just like that, she and everyone else scattered around, avoiding the attack in the progress. And while most of them jumped backwards, Akeno and Rias immediately flew off the ground, using their wings. Raising herself enough, the crimson-haired woman didn`t waste a second more and launched a sphere of demonic energy right at Kokabiel. A moment later, her attack was joined by a lightning that came from the family`s queen as both of them were directed at the enemy in incredible speed. However, just as they thought, the fallen angel simply withstood the two charges by blocking with his bare hands.

"This can`t be all you got." The Cadre stated with a smirk on his face.

"Then here I come." Suddenly Xenovia`s voice echoed in the opponent`s ears from under him.

As he looked down the picture of the blue-haired devil flying directly at him appeared. Seeing this one chance, the former exorcist acted quickly and swung Durandal from below. Unfortunately, the Cadre reacted equally fast and flew a meter back using his wings just in time to dodge the attack as he immediately decided to counter by creating a sword of light, which he aimed at the teen. Despite that, the latter didn`t leave any chance of it hitting her as she quickly spun around and blocked with her weapon. At first they both seemed equal, but soon the immense strength of Kokabiel showed its effect as he was able to push the opponent flew meters back. A second later, another lightning came down from above Quarta, aimed by Akeno, who decided to bet on surprise attacks. Even so, the fallen angel calmly used his jet black wings to wrap himself like cocoon and withstand the charge.

"Boring." The Cadre commented with a disappointed voice, looking at the black-haired woman and the rest of the youngsters. "It`s not like before."

"Shut up! If you want to fight, go fight that bastard Vali." Issei roared back.

"Then why don`t you instead transfer your power to Rias Gremory? Although, it won`t matter anyway." Kokabiel mocked. "Go on, I`ll wait for you to do so. Just like last time."

This comment appeared to hit a nerve in Rias as she clenched her teeth. Mocking and making fun of her servants was something she never forgave and that would never change, especially when the insult was directed at her precious Issei. Meanwhile, the said boy was surprisingly calm. Normally this would get him riled up easily, but now was different. Ever since a certain similar brown-haired teen started training him, he was beginning to understand the importance of the calm composure during battles and how it could help him. Being lost in thought, he remembered that training time that he had for the past few months.

**FLASHBACK**

Three days had passed from the attack of Khaos Brigade on Kuoh Academy in which the first pawn of the Gremory was reminded of his uselessness. He might have been able to get out of the school and report everything to the President, but still he had a bitter taste in his mind, because of his failure to save Asia that one situation when the former nun was captured by the stray magicians and was about to get killed. At that moment, Hyoudou let his emotions get the better him as he ran straight at the enemy without thinking, while this could have put not only himself, but the bishop in great danger too. And if it wasn`t for Tatsumi to interrupt, the outcome could have been worse.

After that day, the Red Dragon Emperor began to doubt his abilities more as it reflected on his mood. It was then that he thought of something, rather someone that could help him fix his errors and there was only one for that purpose. The second day, Issei went to the former member of Night Raid and asked him if the latter can train him to become stronger. At first, his stepbrother wasn`t certain due to Issei`s easy going personality, but in the end agreed to it.

And so, on the third day the training began. Immediately after breakfast, the two pawns headed for the club`s backyard. There they started the program with push-ups and other exercises of the sort, but Issei quickly got tired of it and questioned why they didn`t do any fight between each other, while seeming a bit disappointed. Noticing this, the green-eyed assassin gave in and so they skipped to hand-to-hand combat practice. However, this turned out a total nightmare for the Sekiryuutei as he learned just how much Tatsumi exceeded him.

Just like that, couple of hours passed and it came time for lunch. Noticing that, his teacher gave a sign to stop and headed to the club house to refresh himself. When the other boy joined him, he instantly got to the point.

"Tatsumi, you really show no mercy." Issei said, while putting some ice wrapped in a towel on his face due to his left cheek being swollen from all the hits that it received.

Hearing that, the latter sighed and commented coldly. "You`re just too soft. Man up."

"That may be true." The other devil agreed. "But hold a little, will you?"

"I thought you wanted me to fight like in a real battle." His stepbrother noted.

"Well, I had no clue you`d be this strong." The Red Dragon Emperor defended.

"Geez, there`s no helping you." The former assassin replied.

"Shut up!" The first pawn roared back. "I just want to become stronger in order to protect everyone."

"That`s good and all. But first you need to fix many things about yourself." Tatsumi stated. "Starting with the way you fight."

"What about it?" Issei asked curiously.

"To be frank, you let your emotions control you while fighting and there`s the problem." The green-eyed teen commented. "A friend taught me to fight with passion, but with reason the most. With that, you`ll be able to fight better."

"I see. I`ll keep that in mind." The Red Dragon Emperor replied as he smiled all of a sudden. "But seriously, I think our team`s really amazing now that we have you."

"You`re overestimating me, you know?" The latter stated, while putting his T-Shirt on.

"Don`t say that." Issei protested. "You pulled up a draw with Sirzechs-sama recently and your Sacred Gear appears to be awesome too. I`m really grateful to you. I just don`t know how to repay the favor."

This made Tatsumi to put a pondering face. He never would ask for money from people or make them do things they don`t want to. After all, he was kind and nice and treated others respect, but of course if they deserved it. But unlike at the Empire, where people were rotten to the core, in this word they were mostly good and kindhearted even if you don`t ask for anything from them. As proven when Issei`s parents gladly accepted him in their family and on top of that allowed him to use the name Hyoudou. For that, the former assassin felt an immense gratitude. It was then, when he was he thinking about the said family that something got to him.

"Call me Bro and we`re even." Tatsumi said with a grin on his face.

"You got it, Bro!" His stepbrother replied.

After that, the two fixed themselves and headed towards the second floor of the club house, where they were to wait for the rest to come.

**FLASHBACK END**

While, the brown-haired boy was recalling this event, silence was ruling over the atmosphere as none had spoken so far, just simply watched and waited for the each side`s next move.

"What`s wrong? Weren`t you going to defeat me? " Kokabiel mocked once again.

"You bet I will." Issei muttered, but enough to be heard by the rest. After that, he shot his head up at his master, who was floating in the air couples of meters above him. "President, I have an idea." He shouted out load. "Let me poke your breasts. Please!"

"Eh?" His master said, while blinking.

With that, the whole area went dead silent as everyone else shot confused looks at the pawn, while he seemed surprisingly calm and happy as if he said something normal that could be heard every day. The fallen angel was lacking any conception of what was going on, although the same could be said for the youngsters as well. Most of clueless of which was Akame, who didn`t believe what she just heard. If it was somewhere else, then she might have understood it, but hearing such a thing on the battlefield was something she never thought would happen. In that time, Rias landed next to him.

"What are talking about, Ise?" The household`s master asked her servant. "This can`t be the right ti-" She continued out of confusion, but stopped middle way when she saw how serious the expression on Hyoudou`s face was.

Noticing that, she unbuttoned her shirt and after that pulled her bra down, thus exposing her big breasts. "Okay." She whispered as her cheeks got reader by the second.

"I don`t know what you`re thinking, but do you call this a fight?" Kokabiel interrupted angrily by creating a spear of light, which he threw down at the two devils.

"…Iyan." Rias`s moan came out of her lips.

Issei had already gently buried his hingers in the crimson-haired woman`s breasts when suddenly a bright red aura erupted from below the perverted boy, which surprisingly was able to reflect the incoming attack like it was nothing.

"What?" The enemy evoked.

"This aura…" Yuuto exclaimed. "Could it be that Issei-kun has…"

"**Welsh Dragon Balance Breaker!"** The voice of the dragon echoed through the area as the light completely covered the Sekiryuutei.

When it finally faded away, there stood a red armored scale figure with two dragon-like wings and tail. His friends stood with amazement and wide-opened eyes from what just happened in front of them. Even, the former assassin remained shocked for a moment, while looking at the armor. She didn`t get what actually was that, but she instantly found it similar to Tatsumi`s Imperial Arm, Incursio.

"**What do you know, partner? You finally attained it. You really did."** Ddraig spoke up again. **"And it appears that all the training has paid up. It`s different from last time."**

Hearing that, Hyoudou couldn`t help but feel a bit proud about. "Let`s do this then."

Just like that, he launched himself at the fallen angel. However, his speed was absolutely untraceable for the opponent, who tried to guard with his black wings. Unfortunately, Issei was too fast as he reached him in no time and quickly send a hard punch with his right hand right at Kokabiel`s stomach. The force of the hit caused immediate pain to the latter as he coughed small amount of blood, while being pushed a meter back.

The fallen angel tried to counterattack by creating a sword of light and swung it at the devil`s head, but was surprised when his opponent ducked with an ease and after that shot his left leg at the Cadre, which landed in his head instead. The result of which, further pushed the enemy backwards.

'Alright, I can do this!' The pawn motivated himself in his mind. "President, I`ll defeat this bastard. You all go to save Asia." He announced without looking down.

"But will you be alright alone, Issei-senpai?" Gasper cried out at his senior, worrying for his well-being.

"He`ll be fine." Xenovia interrupted. "Issei has what it takes to win."

"We must believe in Issei-kun." Akeno added with a smile.

"That`s right, everyone. I believe in my cute Ise." Rias replied. "Let`s go!"

With that, the youngsters turned around and took off towards the direction where they were going to, leaving their friend to fight to formidable foe.

"**They have left, partner."** Ddraig said to his host, noticing that.

"Now`s time to get wild." Issei exclaimed, preparing to attack the enemy.

Kokabiel on the other hand reacted with anger at first, but now there was a big smirk on his face. The reason was simple, the devil that managed to land two blows on him and that by itself was a great feat.

"This is interesting! Really interesting!" He commented with excitement, focusing his attention on the armored opponent.

Meanwhile, back at Kuoh Academy`s student consul room Sona Sitri, Tsubaki Shinra and one more devil from their household were calmly sitting and enjoying their time. The pure-blooded devil was playing a game of chess with her queen, while the third girl was writing something on a textbook. Just one hour ago, they learned, who their opponent at the incoming Rating Game was going to be as the news came personally from Sona`s older sister, Serafall Leviathan, one of the great four satans. And even thought she knew the need to get ready as soon as possible better than anyone else among her circle of friends, right now she decided to let her mind free for a moment. Deep silence was ruling over the room as none of the three devils said anything.

"President, what do you think of our opponent?" Tsubaki couldn`t help but ask, being mindful as her master.

"Taking Diodora and his servants lightly is not an option. He may look like simple, but he`s a mystery to me." The latter answered, while ending her move.

"But according to Serafall-sama he`s not that strong, right?" The other girl questioned next. Her name was Momo Hanakai. She was young, in her middle teens with white hair and blue-green eyes. Her attire consisted of Kuoh Academy`s girl uniform just like her seniors.

"That may be the case. Still, it`s better to…" Sona tried to explains herself, but was literally cut off when the door got blasted opened from the outside from it which came the only boy in the entire household, Genshirou Saji, who looked to be in a great hurry. He was carrying a mobile phone in his right hand.

"What`s the matter, Saji?" His master instantly asked, upon noticing his loud entrance.

"President, Ravel Phenex called me and asks for help." The pawn shot the answer as quickly as he could.

"Ravel did?" The short-haired woman repeated as her eyes slightly widened.

"Yes. She is on the phone now." He replied, showing his device.

"Put it on speakers." Sona demanded.

The latter did as told and activated the speakers and putted the phone on the table. After which, he backed up.

"Hello, Ravel! What do you need?" The heiress to the Sitri family asked, not wasting any time.

"_Hello, Sona, I call to ask for help. Diodora Astraroth appeared in Rias`s mansion in Okayama, while we were there and kidnapped Asia-san right before us. None of us knew what he was plotting."_ The bishop explained the situation.

"Why would he kidnap Asia Argento?" Sona shot another question.

"_It`s a long story, but he intends to do something terrible to her for sure."_ The youngest child of the Phenex clan continued to speak with a quickened voice. _"Rias and the rest went to save her, but that man has allied himself with Khaos Brigade."_

'Khaos Brigade?' That instantly hammered in Serafall`s sister. "Do you know where he`ll be?" She asked again, leaving that aside for now.

"_Ah, yes. According to a servant of his, he`s staying at a shrine near the town of Himeji." _The blonde-haired girl replied back. _"I beg of you, please help Rias and the others."_

This time, the other pure-blooded devil didn`t say anything immediately and instead of that shot her servants a look to see what they thought about the matter. Each of them had a serious expression on their faces, which showed that they were ready to throw themselves at battle if she ordered them to. Seeing this, she once again turned towards the phone on the table.

"Very well. We`ll assist them with whatever we can. We own Rias and her group for saving the school couple of times after all." Sona answered.

"_Thank you very much."_ Ravel thanked and hanged up on her side of the call.

After that, the short black-haired woman looked at the rest and while fixing her glasses, spoke up. "Tsubaki, call Tsubasa to get here the fastest way the possible. The others are busy right now, so we have to do this just the five of us."

"I`ll do it right away." The other third student replied and without wasting any time, pulled out her phone from the left pocket of her skirt.

"Gen-chan, when did you give your number to that Ravel girl?" All of a sudden, Momo interrupted with an annoyed voice, changing the subject.

"I haven`t." Saji quickly defended. "The call came from Tatsumi`s phone."

"From Tatsumi`s?" Sona arched an eyebrow. "If I recall right, Onee-sama told me that he has been missing for some days now." She began thinking it over, but hurried to shake any unnecessary thoughts. "Anyway, prepare yourselves. It appears we will have to fight Diodora and his servants sooner than we expected."

Back at Himeji, Rias and the others were currently proceeding on to save their friend, but without Issei, who was most probably still fighting Kokabiel right at this moment. And even though they worried a lot for his safety, all they could do now was to believe in him and his strength and that of the Red Dragon Emperor that resided within him. The group was moving by the same way with Xenovia in front, shortly followed by Yuuto and Akame and the rest were running after them.

While they were running, the shrine was beginning to show itself between the trees more and more, which hinted that they must be reaching it. The path became slightly wider, giving the youngsters more space to run, but in the same time gave the enemy better chance to attack them. And it was just what happened when suddenly something came directly in front of them. Noticing that, the group scattered sideways, thus successfully avoiding the danger. After that, they immediately looked forward just to see five figures standing before them and all of them were fallen angels, two women and three men. Each of them appeared to be in the early thirties or so, much like Kokabiel. Yet there was one difference, all of them had only one pair of black feather wings, meaning they were definitely a lower class. Four of them, were floating in the air and one was standing on the ground.

"Just great. There were still more of them." Quarta exclaimed with a sarcastic voice.

"Hey look!" One of the enemies shouted out. "It`s just as Kokabiel-dono and that Diodora said. They really came to save that girl." It was one of the men.

"Complete fools, aren`t they?" The second male replied and turned towards the teens. "This place will be your doom." He finished, creating another spear of light and threw it at his targets. Namely it was directed at the crimson-haired woman.

Despite that, Rias was able to quickly put a hand forward and created a red magical circle with which she blocked the charge with an ease.

"I`ll say this once." She spoke up, raising tone of her voice. "Back away now or I will destroy all of you to the last one." Her threat was immediately backed by her demonic aura as her hair began to chaotically blow up.

"Don`t get too arrogant just because you`re a devil." One of the women roared back. After which she created another weapon of light and aimed it at the heiress to the Gremory family.

The rest of her kin didn`t remain behind and joined the assault by throwing spears at the same target as it became total of five incredible sharp and dangerous objects flying directly at Occult Research Club`s leader.

"President, watch out!" Yuuto warned his master to be careful.

Even so, the pure-blooded devil calmly pointed her two hands forward and created another circle, getting ready to withstand the attacks once again. However, for her surprise there wasn`t the slightest need for that as Akame jumped before high-class devil and swiftly and quickly sliced every single of the light objects, leaving not even one to crash at the defensive circle. It was so shocking that no one could actually believe it at first.

"Akame!" Rias evoked in a whisper.

"You need to hurry and save your friend." The red-eyed teen replied, without even turning to face the former. "I`ll deal with the enemies here." She added, preparing to fight.

"Are you serious, Akame-san?" Kiba looked at the said girl with a puzzled face.

Suddenly, the laugher of the opponents interrupted in. Following it, the youngsters stopped on the only one that wasn`t in the air. "You think you can handle five of us alone. That`s pure nonsense. You`re really underestimating us." He continued to brag, while about to create another weapon.

And there was it, the opening that the former assassin needed to strike. She raised her back a little, directed most of her energy in the legs and just like that launched herself like a cheetah. Her target was the one on the ground, who by seeing the attacker pulled his wings out as fast as he could and tried to take flight in the air, but it was too late. He felt his body being cut in the area around his lung, going all the way through and cutting even his spine, and coming from the back. Blood instantly splashed out to the side and that was the last thing he noticed just before his heart stopped and the body dragged down on the muddy ground.

'She`s fast.' Xenovia commented to herself, while watching the quick work that Akame made of the fallen angel.

"Come on, everyone. Asia is waiting for us." The household`s master said, catching her servants` attention.

The rest nodded and started circling about the battlefield, continuing on their way to save the former nun. This was instantly noticed by the enemies.

"You`re not getting away." One of the women said and attempted to attack the fleeing group.

Unfortunately for her, this provided another opportunity for the black-haired assassin and she acted without hesitating. Using the terrain to her advantage, she jumped at a nearby tree and the rest was a child`s play for her, who have grown in mountains. Bouncing at higher branch, Night Raid`s Ace pushed herself from it all the way above the exact same opponent and after making a somersault in the air, landed a kick in her face, which sent her crashing on the ground. Sadly, the women`s bad luck didn`t end there as she wasn`t even able to try to get up as Murasame`s wielder landed on top of her and immediately dealt the finishing blow by stabbing her heart. Only a slight cough came from the enemy`s mouth before death struck her.

"Griselda is dead two." One of the remaining three fallen angels evoked in shock.

"What the hell is this woman?" The only men cursed. "She moves like a ghost."

"Don`t falter!" The third one yelled. "We can kill her."

Hearing that, the other two broke off the shock and prepared to fight. Akame on the other hand simply fixed her stance with the decision to keep defending herself, until another opening appeared to her. She moved her sword with two hands and focused her entire attention on the enemy. That was her specialty that helped her survive all those battles and it was why she was so feared by the enemies. Because once she found the target, she wouldn`t stop until it was eliminated_._

"Eliminate." Her famous phrase that she used to push the switch and go into killing mode. That along with 'I`ll bury you' were the two things she didn`t like saying, but had said many times. Just like that, she was once again ready to take the opponents lives.

A little further ahead, the Occult Research Club was turning around on the last corner and now was running the last few meters until the actual shrine, which had a middle-size yard right after the gate entrance. Just like that, another obstacle was about to come before the Gremory group, manifested in a lineup of twelve female figures standing still and obviously waiting for the uninvited guests.

"Those are Diodora`s servants." Akeno stated, while running.

"As expected, they won`t let us pass." Rias replied and quickly scanned the opponents.

"By the way, what kind of evil pieces did die back at the mansion?" Quarta questioned, recalling the two devils that gently speaking were removed from the chess board.

"Unfortunately, I have no idea." Their master answered casually. "But I think the queen and the bishops are still alive. Akeno and I will handle them. The rest mo…" She tried to allocate everyone, but was cut off by the black-haired woman.

"I will face them alone. President, you must go and save Asia-chan." Her queen refused.

"Akeno-san`s right." Yuuto supported his friend and senior. "It`s our king`s job to defeat the enemy`s one. Beside`s we mustn`t let the chance that Issei-kun and Akame-san gave us slip by."

"But will you be alright?" The pure-blooded devil asked with a worried voice.

"We will be alright. Just like Issei-kun, we too have people that give us courage and people that we want to protect. Have faith in us." Himejima replied back with a confident smile, while thinking over something. 'That`s right. As long as I have that person in my heart, I`m okay with using this power within me.'

All of a sudden, a pair of black wings came out from the queen`s back. However, there was something different. One of them was indeed that of a devil, but the other one had black feathers, just as a fallen angel.

"Akeno?" The crimson-haired woman evoked, looking at her friend. "Could you…" She couldn`t even finish when a blast of energy from the enemy was about to catch her of guard.

Seeing it, Rias tried to evade it, but just like with Akame, there was no need for that as Koneko sprinted before her master and deflected the charge with her right fist. Second later, a pair of white cat-like ears and white tail grew on the rook`s body out of nowhere.

"…I too will use this power to protect my friends." The nekomata stated. "As long I`m with Issei-senpai, President and everyone else… I won`t be afraid."

"Koneko-chan as well, huh?" Kiba smiled faintly. "Shall we join in too?" He added, arching an eyebrow to his fellow knight.

Getting the hint, Xenovia nodded and moved next to the swordsman. "Yeah, we shall."

"Everyone!" The heiress to the Gremory family whispered unbelievingly, while watching her servants getting ready to fight.

"Go, Rias." Akeno gently urged her best friend.

Hearing that, their master gave a nod and after that pulled out her wings and then she instantly took flight in the air and launched herself right above the group of opponents. Noticing that, the enemies tried to prevent her from passing through when couple of them created magical circles, reading to fire magical blasts, but just like that they were literally stopped by Gasper, who used to his Sacred Gear to stop the time of the opponents. This gave Rias the chance to pass without trouble, just before the vampire broke the control, not being able to hold any more than that.

"Alright, everyone!" Himejima nodded to the rest. "Let us win this for our President and for our cute Asia-chan."

"Understood!" Yuuto, Quarta and Toujou confirmed and just like the four of them headed straight for their battles, while Gasper stood stiff from the fear to engage in a battle himself.

In the same time, inside the shrine Diodora was sitting on the end of four-stair height at the very of a wooden floor. Right above him hanged Asia. She was tied by some kind of seal that emitted a weak blue light. Eyes closed and filled with tears, the former nun was feeling a mix of two feelings, fear and despair. The green-haired devil on the hand looked very satisfied, while wearing a big grin on his face and having his legs crossed like a high-class person. Silence was ruling over the place with the only the sound of the tears that fell from the girl straight down on the floor.

Suddenly, the two-sided door got blasted open from the outside as both of the sides clashed at the wall next to them, revealing the heiress to the Gremory family as she immediately started walking forward, but just to stop at the sight of her friend hanged in the air.

"Asia!" Rias shouted out.

"P-President-san!" The bishop returned through tears, a voice slightly harder than a whisper.

"How is it? Do you like my spectacle?" Astraroth asked the other pure-blooded devil with an equally satisfied voice as his expression. "With this, I can break Asia slowly and painfully."

"You fiend!" The crimson-haired woman cursed through teeth. "How dare you do that to Asia."

Hearing this, the man started to laugh. "Because I dare and because I want. Besides, I`m the one, who came upon this girl long before you. Finders are keepers as they say."

"Just because of that doesn`t mean Asia belongs to you." Sirzechs`s sister replied angrily and started walking forward again. "Hand Asia over this instant."

"Oh, she will be mine." Diodora laughed once again. "And it`s too late for you to do anything."

"In that case, I will defeat you." Rias threatened.

Just like that, she created a magic circle and launched a large amount of demonic energy straight at the enemy with great precision in order not to get her servant in the fight. Unfortunately, the heir to the Astraroth family kept his confidence and simply created a green circle, blocking the attack.

"It`s futile. I have a snake personally given to me by Ophis herself." The man said with the same arrogance and counterattacked by hurling couple green conjured blades at the crimson-haired woman.

However, his opponent quickly dodged by pulling her wings out and sprang off the ground to the right just in time to avoid the attack. After that, the Ruin Princess turned around and flew up and made a loop in the air, while dodging some more attacks in the process and when the looping was finished she sharply launched another blast of demonic energy straight at Diodora. Despite that, the man still remained at one place and once again pointed a hand ahead and created a couple of circles as the enemy`s charge clashed right against them. With a smiling and boasting face, he waited calmly waited the attack to complete stop and mock the other pure-blooded devil more, but another blast was shot right after the previous one as it closed on him incredibly fast. Having no other choice, Astraroth jumped to the left just before the demonic energy crashed down on the ground. Following the sudden reaction the man fell with face on the wooden floor.

"Curse you, Rias Gremory." The green-haired devil cursed while getting up. His face now with a angered look on it. "You`ll pay for this."

"I will say this once more, hand Asia this instant." The heiress to the Gremory family threatened, while floating in the air. Unfortunately for her, it fell on deaf ears as the opponent prepared to strike. "Then I`ll take her back by force." She stated, also readying herself to fight.

Meanwhile, Issei and Kokabiel were having a real showdown in the forest. The two of them collided again and again with such great force that the surroundings were quickly getting destroyed. Both sides were still bursting with energy and showed it clearly without holding back. Right at that moment, the Cadre was the one on the offense as he used the swords of light that he had created earlier to launch a huge mass of light at the Sacred Gear, who was coming straight ahead at him. In response to the threat, Hyoudou swung his right armored hand forward and easily destroyed the incoming and continued his flight just to see another charge closing on him. Even so, he didn`t stop his advance and simply made a full turn, while swinging his left leg and once again annihilated the light mass.

With this, he found himself reaching on the fallen angel and instantly counterattacked by aiming a fast left fist backed with his current speed. Facing the danger, the enemy responded by dodging to the right with a lightning speed by pushing himself from the directory with the help of his wings, which left the devil empty handed. Taking this chance, Kokabiel switched on the offense without waiting and spread his wings, from which he shot multiple sharp black steel feathers right at Issei`s back.

"**Coming from the back."** Ddraig warned his host.

"Then, I`ll do this." The brown-haired boy replied, while overturning in the air, avoiding the first wave as he ended with face at the incoming second one. All of a sudden, he stretched his left hand back and just like that red energy began to gather in its palm. "Dragon Shot!" He shouted and darted his hand forward, launching a beam of that energy.

The beam was powerful that it literally devoured the steel feathers and continued its way at the fallen angel in an incredible speed. The Cadre was just left with enough time to move his hands forward as the charge clashed with them. Blocking the attack, the experienced fallen angel could feel the incredible amount of energy coming into collision with him.

"That`s it. That`s what I`m talking about." The man spoke up laughing as he braced off the powerful force. "So this is the power of the Red Dragon Emperor." He continued to let his impression slip his lips when he gathered his hands together and with one strong stroke finally deflected the attack. "But, you need more than."

Kokabiel glanced at his opponent, but suddenly there was no sign of him. Confused, he began to look around when the feeling of danger warned to watch out from above just to spot the devil incoming right at him, while stretching his right leg. However, he still kept his cool and before the hit was fact, he met the charge with his black wings hard as steel and a second later pushed the boy with them around ten meters back.

"Don`t you have something more to show me?" Kokabiel said laughingly, creating a bigger mass of light as he threw it straight at the Sacred Gear user.

"You bet I have." Hyoudou shouted in reply and with a calm voice at that. The enemy wanted to see something incredible and he would show him in order to continue on his way. "Asacalon!" He shouted.

Just like that, the double edged blade of the Holy Sword appeared from the gauntlet, which he immediately swung to destroy the light object with an ease.

"What?" The fallen angel evoked. "You have merged a holy sword with your Sacred Gear?"

"It`s a gift from Michael-san." Issei boasted and launched himself at the enemy. "It`s a Dragon Slayer sword."

'Damn that Michael.' The man cursed and instantly attacked once again by shooting multiple spears of light from a big magical circle.

Unfortunately, that didn`t stop Issei at the slightest as he simply charged right through, while easily destroying the spears with the blade on his left hand. In less than a moment, he already reached the Cadre and attacked without hesitation by aiming a quick punch with his other hand right at the opponent`s face. Despite that, Kokabiel avoided with the same ease by leaning two meters just for the pawn to pass by unsuccessful. But this time, he created a sword of light in his left hand and swung it at the Red Dragon Emperor`s wide-opened back.

However, Hyoudou simply did a loop up so precisely that he ended directly above the older opponent, catching him off guard. Not wasting any time, he aimed his armored hand in the form of a fist straight at the fallen angel`s head. Kokabiel just couldn`t believe how he was literally outsmarted in a battle as much as he was only able to slightly lean backwards and create a magical circle to defend himself.

A moment later, the fist clashed against the defensive object. Sparks of bright yellow light and red began to reflect from the rubbing of the gauntlet with the shield. The pawn was giving it all to pierce the last defense and the Cadre was having a hard time holding up the force that he had to admit it as overwhelming. If a lower class fallen angel was in his place, he or she would have definitely been blown away by this. But he was a high-class, one of the first angels that were banished from Heaven in the human world a very long time ago. It was this, which made him so confident in his abilities and to believe in the fallen angel`s superiority to the other two factions, devils and angels.

"It`s still not enough." Kokabiel said smirking after managing to hold off the pressure. "You can`t beat me with that power."

"Then, I`ll use more power." Issei replied back when suddenly a voice started speaking from the left gauntlet.

"**BOOST! BOOST! BOOST..."**

With each of repetition of that word, the force that pressed against the shield began to drastically increase higher and higher.

"…**BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST…"**

The Cadre started to bend to the rising amount of power as he saw the circle cracking in the center and quickly spreading across. It was just unbelievable, but he was absolutely falling behind in the contest of power and that was angering him.

"Take this!" Hyoudou yelled, while pressing his fist further.

"…**BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!"**

Just like that, the pawn succeeded in breaking Kokabiel`s defense and the attack finally hit its target right in the man`s stomach. The fallen angel felt the center of his body bending backwards like a bow. Saliva and blood escaped from within his mouth when he got the feeling of his body completely stopping moving just to be literally blasted out crashing at the ground in the next second. The earth shook like as if it was an enormous earthquake and a small crater was created a meter deep and three meters long on the place where the fallen angel fell.

Shortly after that, Issei landed down on a safe distance from the crater and waited to see what happened. Much he hoped to end the battle with this hit, so much he was disappointed when the Cadre slowly got up from the ground.

"Kid, you really have gotten stronger since our last battle." Kokabiel said, while wiping some blood from his mouth.

"Why thank you!" The pawn replied back. "I have a ruthless trainer."

This caused the dragon inside him to laugh.** "That boy would beat you for this."**

"It`s good Bro is not here." Hyoudou sighed in relief. "Or maybe it isn`t. He would have been a great help." He quickly contradicted himself. "That aside, that guy sure is tough. I`m going all out and I still can`t defeat him."

"**I said it before. He has survived after fighting with both gods and satans. Of course he won`t go down so easily."** Ddraig explained.

"I know that, damn it." Issei muttered. "Well, got not chance than to beat him some more." He concentrated on the battle. Just like that, both sides launched at each other again.

In that time, Akame had taken her fight with the other fallen angels deeper inside the forest. After she took down two of the enemies, they instantly regrouped high in the air and started throwing spear after spear at her. This forced the former assassin to turn on defense and start running between the trees and be pursued by them. She wasn`t running away, but rather lure them and wait for an opening. This was also one of the reasons why she was so dangerous. Analyzing the opponent`s strong and weak sides and quickly come up with a way to defeat them. In this case, her targets had sharp eyes, general long range skills and were obviously experienced in flying, while their main weaknesses were poor teamwork and being weak in direct confrontations. And that`s why the red-eyed teen brought them to more dense part of the forest where she could use the surroundings to her advantage.

Currently, the former Night Raid member was sprinting on a curved path between couple of bushes. She kept a normal speed, trying not to give the enemies the slip, who she knew were chasing her up in the air, despite not being able to see them.

All of a sudden, her instincts kicked in for incoming danger from above just for her to see three spears of light coming ahead of her, which were lined up in a row. That way even if she jumped either to the left or to the right, she would still be caught in the middle. The enemy knew exactly what they were doing and it obviously wasn`t for the first time, having succeeded couple of times at least. But Akame didn`t even flinch and instead of that simply hammered Murasame in the ground and used to push herself right above the falling objects and continued to running as soon as she touched the earth when she continued her way. Suddenly, the trees ended up and the red-eyed teen found herself going through a small meadow where she was clearly noticeable by the opponents.

The fallen angels saw that chance and instantly took it when one of the men descended right at the assassin`s back with a spear of light in his right hand.

"Now I got yo-" He whispered, while aiming his weapon at the target.

However, Akame was too used to attacks from the back to be caught off guard so easily and that was shown when she just ducked with the slightest effort and immediately counterattacked by turning her sword backwards and stabbed the enemy in the stomach after which she didn`t waste any time and took out the blade by sliding through the dead body, coming out from the left. With that, the killed men rolled on her own trained, but normal-looking back, falling on the ground. Noticing that, Night Raid`s Ace rose back to full standing position, only to be faced with another danger. This time it was in the form of the women coming straight at her from the air, while throwing a spear after spear out of rage.

Despite that, the black-haired girl once again displayed her class and dodged all of the light objects by leaning to the sides when she attacked by the same opponent from close range. The female fallen angel closed her and instantly swung a spear in her left hand directly at the target`s head, but to no avail as former assassin avoided to the right. Next, the woman shot the one in her other hand at her chest. Akame simply slid to the right. After that came an attack at her once again and she easily fended it off by swerving the opponent`s hand off the directory.

"How dare you kill our comrades?" The attacker shouted, while swinging and swinging at the younger female. Sadly for her, all of her attacks were ending either dodged or blocked and not even the slightest opening could be seen from her enemy. It was if the red-eyed teen was just playing with her.

"I`m joining in." The last male fallen angel yelled, while descending from the air.

Reaching the battle, he created a spear both of his hands and swung them down at the girl`s head, but he was left surprised and empty handed. Akame not only dealt with the situation easily, but with elegance at that. Just before the man from above came down on her, she leaned to the right, while stretching her hand towards the ground. The moment she touched the soft earth she tumbled to the right and escaping the danger.

"Just die already!" The woman shouted and attacked again by launching herself right at target`s back and swinging another spear of light with raged-powered force.

Unfortunately it was all futile as the former assassin once more reacted flawless by jumping over the horizontal swing and spun herself to the right and swinging her right leg, which ended up in the left side of the opponent`s head. The hit was backed with enough strength that it sent the fallen angel crashing on the ridged ground and continued to roll on it until it finally stopped. In that time, the man left the rage to further take control him as he attacked blindly, throwing the two spears in his hand straight at the girl`s face. It was a stupid move, fatal mistake and Akame took notice to it by quickly ducking over the attack and even more quickly sprinting at the enemy and slashing him with a vertical swing from below. The body split between the heart and the lung, after which it simply fell on the ground as a wave of blood splashed out from it and painting the green grass in red. Seeing that, the black-haired assassin turned her attention towards the woman she kicked a moment ago and started walking towards her.

Her older enemy on the hand was trying to get up from the ground, but the second she saw the approaching teen stopped in a sitting position and became stiff as a board. This fear was because she now knew she couldn`t beat this opponent in a direct confrontation no matter how much she tried and that`s she decided to bet on tricks instead.

"Wait!" The woman shouted to the walking girl. "You`re really strong. I admit my loss, but please listen to me…" She said, while not moving her eyes off the enemy, who appeared to not have the slightest intention of stopping. "How about you join us instead? I`m sure our leader will approve of it and you`ll be able to kill lots of people that way.""

"You`re saying this after I have killed many of your comrades?" Akame asked without any traits of emotion in her voice, while already a meter away.

"Yeah." The fallen angel pretended, while creating a small spear of light behind her back in order not to get notice, "It`s sad, but it`s for the better good of our race. So what do you s-" She tried to continued distract the teen, slowly readying to shot the surprise attack. But such couldn`t come as just before that happened, Murase`s wielder swung the Imperial Arm, cutting the opponent`s neck. As a result, the upper half of the enemy`s body loosen up and leaned back and fell on the earth.

"Unlike you, I don`t kill for fun." Akame replied back with a cold voice to the dying woman. "I only do it to get rid the world of trash like you."

'She is just like an assass-.' Were the enemy`s final though just before the demon sword`s cursed poison wrapped around her heart and darkness covered her.

The red-eyed teen stood still for a moment to make sure that all the fallen angels were dead and after turned around and ran back the way she came from to go and help the others with their battles. While running, she recalled the fight that she just finished. The opponents were quite skilled and definitely stronger than the normal soldiers she usually fought back in her world and although she knew of far more dangerous foes that had stood in her way before, there was something bothering her. During this battle Akame could feel her body moving faster and more powerful, but couldn`t think of any idea what might have caused that, but decided not to dwell on it too much. Right now, helping Tatsumi`s friends mattered the most and she would do anything to protect them and not only because they were dear to her brown-haired comrade from Night Raid, but also because they turned out to be really great group that cared for their members a lot. That by itself was more than enough to deserve the black-haired teen`s trust and sympathy. Concentrating on the current task, she began to put more speed, while passing through the trees.

Meanwhile, Tatsumi was reaching haflway between the cities of Okayama and Himeji, running like there is no tomorrow. The morning he got up only to be greeted by an hostile looking fallen angels that wanted to kill him. Next he had to walk around one hundred kilometers to get back at the Gremory`s mansion in Okayama, while rain didn`t stop to pour down on him. And just when he got home he was informed that some arrogant high-class devil had kidnapped one of his friends and by pure luck it turned out to be namely Diodora Astraroth. Now he was sprinting back to shrine where he had to escort Ophis yesterday. It certainly was turning into one hell of day for him so far.

Currently, he was passing by the same big tree that he landed next to this morning after the battle with Kokabiel and five more from his kin. Hyoudou was reaching new levels of speed that he had never before as the fear of losing someone dear to him was getting painfully reminded to him. The last time when he had to run so fast was back in his world when he had to provide backup for another Night Raid`s member, Chelsea. Back then, the group of assassins planned an ambush for the Empire`s elite group, the Jeagers. As a result, they managed to separate the enemy into two groups and ended up fighting Kurome, Bols and Wave and only that but the Grand Chariot user was successfully sent off flying to another location and just their targets were left behind. However, during the battle it became clear to the whole Night Raid why their enemies were so dangerous. Akame`s sister revealed to be able to control many puppets with her Imperial Arm, Yatsufusa and not just deceased humans, but small danger beasts and even a ultra-class one like Desta-Ghoul, a enormous dragon. In the end, the assassins were able to take out most of the puppets and eliminate Bols, the former soldier of the Empire, but that all came with a price. When Najenda dispatched Tatsumi and Akame to go aid Chelsea, only her head was found stabbed on a street pylon and the one, who came upon it was Incursio`s wielder himself.

The next time was when he and Mine were sent to the mountains near the town where Boric, another target, resided in. Then and there the two of them fought against the last of the Rashaka demons, Suzuka and a member of the Jeagers, Seryu Ubiquitous, the same one that killed Sheele. As an outcome, Mine took down the Imperial soldier and her Teigu, while Tatsumi buried the demon under tons of rocks by bringing an abandoned building on top of her, That time he was barely able to save his female comrade from an suicide blast from Seryu. However, after then it came the time when Tatsumi was imprisoned by the Empire and set to be executed in public by no one else than Esdeath on the same stadium they first met. Prepared to die, he waited to be killed, but then the rest of Night Raid came to save him and a great battle raged on. In the end, he was able to escape the clutches of death. Unfortunately that came with a cost. Susanoo sacrificed himself to stall the Empire`s Strongest and Mine was heavily injured from fighting great General Budo. As a result, Incursio`s wielder had to hurry and take the wounded pink-haired teen to a doctor and started running through the wild. Mine knew she wouldn`t make it and asked her lover to stop and there on near a river they had their last words before the girl kissed him on the lips and saying that she loved him just to pass away in his arms.

Many tears were hidden behind those two failures for which Tatsumi couldn`t bring to forgive himself no matter how much time passed. Right now, the brown-haired boy was giving his all not to let the same tragedy repeat itself once more. He had sworn to himself to never again allow a friend of him to die by such unfair and undeserved way. And even though he believed in his friends, he still wanted to protect them with the all power that he could muster.

'Hang on everyone. I`m coming.' Hyoudou though to himself, while running and using Incursio`s invisibility in order not to get spotted by anyone, be it a normal human or an enemy. Those fallen angels this morning were sure bad news for him and he didn`t doubt it that they must be still in the area or worst, at the shrine where Diodora stayed at.

'**Tatsumi?'** Suddenly, the dragon inside him called out to him. **'You seem to have noticed it. The black marks on the dead bodies. They are not from this world.'**

The pawn nodded. He knew very well what could have caused those marks and the answer was one, One-Cut Killer, Demon Sword, Murasame. One of the forty-eight Imperial Arms created by the order of the first Emperor. It most probably had changed many users, but the boy knew only one of them. 'If it is that sword`s doing then she must be here.' He continued to think over it. 'If so then I`m counting on you to protect them. Please, Akame!'

With that, Tatsumi made a sharp turn right and dashed forward, increasing his speed. He concentrated on task that led before him, to help his friends and stop another tragedy from happening.

_To be continued in: Chapter 18 – "A Precious someone"_

**And so, another chapter of 'Second Life' is done. I`m sorry for being inactive for so long, but aside from my personal stuff that I had, you can see that this chapter is really long. It turned out 30 pages in MS Word and about 10900 words, so yeah it officially is the longest chapter I have written so far. I`m trying my best not only to mix the characters from AgK and DxD, but also the styles of battles, the weapons and the races, thus it is not such an easy task.**

**Moving on, in this chapter I tried to unlock Issei`s Balance Breaker by a more DxD way. XD The title of this chapter is referred to only Isse, but Akeno and Koneko as well.**

**Also, I kind of change the battles. I wanted to put Issei against Kokabiel from some time, so I ended up making Rias to fight Diodora instead, unlike in the anime or light novel.**

**Another thing that I want to stop your attention is Akame. For those, who have watched the anime of Akame ga Kill know that at the end she sacrificed her humanity by using Murasame`s trump card to defeat Esdeath. That`s why I decided to take advantage of this and think of something regarding her race in the DxD universe to make her stronger. I`m not going to spoil the answer yet, just say that she is not a human for sure. The rest is to come in the future chapters, so please be patient about it. Of course you are free to guess one time and if someone`s answers correct I will inform them. :D**

**That`s all I wanted to say for now. Thanks for spearing time to read my work. I hope you liked it. Constructive feedbacks are always welcomed, but please no hate or trashing around. And if someone is going to make problems why I haven`t watched the English dub of AgK, then better not. Hateful comments will be deleted.**

**Thank you again!**

**See you around,**

**Kris!**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18 –_** A Precious someone**_

Time seemed to pass unnoticeable around the area of the shrine near Himeji. Earlier this day here was so peaceful that even birds could be heard singing, while rain drops quietly rammed down on the ground, but the view was absolutely different. Many fierce battles raged on in the clash between the Occult Research Club, who came to save Asia and Diodora Astraroth together with his servants and couple fallen angels. The results were obvious as the surroundings changed pace, shape and size with every past minute. Wet and slithery ground, breezy air and normal temperatures were serving as suitable, yet tricky conditions for the showdowns.

From among the few separate battles, one of them was held in the yard in front of the shrine. There Akeno fought against three servants of the man that kidnapped Argento. They were his two bishops and queen. So far they were proving themselves to be hard and difficult enemies to defeat. The battle was passing under the dictation as if on turns as they were moments when both sides exchanged roles. Right now Astaroth`s servants were on the offense as they continued to attack with a certain strategy. It was that kind of where the bishops stood on the second line and supported the queen by providing her with magic power with the help of which she created couple of magic circles and began firing at the Gremory representative.

Forced to switch on the defense, Akeno used her mixed wings to float in the air, while blocking the attacks with a huge defensive magical circle. The power of the blast itself wasn`t that much of problem, but the frequency with they came one after another was the real treat in this situation. Another drawback was the she was yet to get used to using the power of a fallen angel that resided within her, thus she decided to keep on relaying on her usual powers and wait for the right moment to unleash the secret skill.

All of a sudden, an interval between the charges surfaced, to which the black-haired woman immediately took notice and without wasting any time dispelled her defense and counterattacked by pointing her right hand`s forefinger down as she sent lighting at the other devils. However, the enemy queen remained calm and reacted by putting couple of small green magic circles in front of the charge just the attack clashed against them. Having her own magic power and that of the two bishops behind her, this resulted in another failure for the lone opponent in front of them.

'It`s still not enough.' Himejima thought to herself, while looking at the results of her fruitless attempt to defeat her opponents. Out of the three, she could only analyze what to expect from the other queen due to the fact that she had revealed herself. She had long blond hair that reached to her waist and blue eyes. And the main aspect, her body, was slim with an average height for a young woman. Her mobility was mostly a mystery for Akeno, because of the opponents` way of fighting. But on other side, this suggested that they must prefer settling battles that way, so their physical movements were probably not their strong fort.

Though, if this was Akeno from four months ago, then the same could be said about her. Now things were different. Issei wasn`t the only one that started to train under Tatsumi`s supervision. In fact, everyone was forced to improve themselves and even Gasper, Asia and Ravel were no exception in the former assassin`s eyes. During those times, the family`s queen was put to strict physical exercises in order to straighten up her body to be more durable and more mobile than before.

"Can`t you see it`s useless. Give it up." The other queen`s suddenly brought her back to the matter at hand. Astraroth`s servant was wearing an annoyed look on her face. She obviously hated to deal with this for too long.

"It`s not." The Occult Research Club`s Vice President replied with an determinate voice. "There`s no way I would run away or loose when a friend of mine is in danger."

This continued to annoy the obviously short-tempered devil as she quickly fired another few magical blasts at the black-haired woman. For her bad luck, this time it was the other queen`s turn to easily put an end to the attack by shooting lighting straight at them as they were destroyed with an ease.

"The kind of annoying and naïve people like you pisses me the most." The blonde shouted out, continuing to fire. "You don`t know how this cruel world is."

"You`re wrong!" Akeno replied back sharply, while using her flying skills to her advantage and easily dodged every single of the attacks by moving left and right in the air with the help of her wings. "I know that very well." She said as memories of her childhood began to surface. It was a childhood she tried to forget all this time and with that everything and everyone regarding it. Her mother, Himejima Shuri was the only exception in this past, which was full of suffering, sorrow, sadness, loneliness and pain for the Gremory devil. Having her mother killed in front of her, banished from the Himejima clan and living without a place to stay for about a year were horrible experience in her life. And although she was given another chance to live as a devil under Rias, she would never get over this tragedy that haunted her so much.

Or at least she thought so. However, then that new devil to the household came and turned her life around as just for less than four months he was able to show her how much is worth living without being hold up by one`s past. He gave her the chance to love again when she most needed it and for that she wanted to return it even more than that. She wanted to love him, to be there for him and make him happy just as he did for her for that short period of time.

"I, once was only looking back at the past and didn`t even want to live." The violet-eyed woman said when she suddenly and drastically dropped down from the air, landing on the ground in a matter of seconds. "But now I`m going to grab on this life and won`t let it go."

"You… just who are you?" One of the bishops asked, being stunned.

"I`m the daughter of human woman, Himejima Shuri and fallen angel Cadre, Baraquiel and Rias Gremory`s queen, Himejima Akeno!" The latter answered proudly. Her wings stretched and her cloths suddenly transformed into an traditional miko attire, consisting of a white haori with red accents, a red hakama, and a pair of zōri with white tabi.

"You're a child of fallen angel?" One of the bishops evoked in shock.

"You arrogant… Thinking yourself for something more special." Diodora`s queen cursed and interrupted by shooting more magical blasts at their opponent.

Yet it proved to be useless as Akeno created a defensive circle just before the charges clashed against it, but this time she reached down at the power sleeping inside her. That was shown when the enemy`s attack wasn`t strong enough to even put some pressure for the black-haired woman. Noticing her current advantage, she raised both her hands up with palms open. Just like that, a mix of yellow and blue lightning began to sparks gather and float around them.

"Holy Lighting!" She shouted and sharply swung both of hands down and by that launching the mixed charge at the other devils.

Their defenses were just no match for the incredible bolt of lightning that came upon them and even the bishops` support was useless in this case. The attack struck not only them, but the whole area as well. The ground got destroyed as a result the asphalt tiles got scattered in many directions. Smoke erupted and while it lasted, a completed silence was ruling over the scene. After it finally drifted away in the air, Himejima saw the three opponents lying down unconscious on the ground, marking the battle as her victory. Thinking up what to do, she looked at the building`s entrance and ran towards it with the thought to go and help Rias to defeat the man that kidnapped their friend, Asia.

In that time, Yuuto and Xenovia had taken their battle in the forest about two-hundred meters to the right of the shrine where they were fighting the two rooks. The fact that those pieces engaged them meant that the ones that died in the Gremory mansion earlier today were the knights. Although, the opponents wore long brown cloaks with hoods, the Occult Research Club`s members could get a good concept about them. They were without doubt girls in their middle teens with average height that was common for females in this period.

So far the showdown was passing with the on and on exchanging roles of attacking and defending. As predicted by the Kuoh Academy`s students, the rooks were quite skilled and had good movements, backed up with the destructive trait of their pieces. Currently, Diodora`s servants were launching another assault as both of them dashed at their opponents, taking one per person. Nearing the targets, the bishops jumped synchronized in the air and shot one of their legs at the same time. Their aim was the knights` heads. Despite that, Kiba and Quarta expected this much and showed it clearly as the young man leaned to the right, while the former exorcist quickly blocked with her the wide side of her sword`s blade. After that, she immediately countered by swinging Durandal forward and with this pushing the enemy few meters back. However, she couldn`t even the rest for a moment as her eyes caught the picture of the other rook coming at her by throwing a punch. Noticing it, she prepared to dodge by jumping to one of the directions, but such thing was even unnecessary as her comrade appeared in front of her and deflected the fist by using the hilt of his sword and then shot at the hooded attacker. This forced the other party to jump backwards in order to avoid the danger.

"Why are you continuing to fight that far?" The same opponent said with a raised voice.

"Because Asia-san is a precious member of our family and we`ll do everything to get her back." His calm voice echoed through the area.

His answer was immediately followed by his friend. "That`s right. Asia will be going home with us."

Their enemies didn`t say anything and just gave off a sound of annoyance as they launched themselves at the knights and just as before they once again attacked in full sync. Both of them swung their left legs at other two devils` stomach. This great synchronization was obviously the result of built up close relationship and trust between them and it was most like that they didn`t have such with any other member of the Astraroth household. That duet was something that would bring any ordinary devil, stray or not with an ease.

Sadly for them, this wasn`t the case in the ongoing battle. Yuuto and Xenovia were more skilled than the rooks expected them to be. This was proven again as the Italian slid to the left, while her comrade jumped backwards, performing a summersault elegantly. Once the blonde-haired boy stepped on the hard ground he instantly counterattacked on his own by stabbing his sword in the ground.

"Sword Birth!" He shouted.

Just like that, blades started coming from the earth, heading straight for Diodora`s servants. The numbers and speed of the attack just didn`t leave them any other option than to dodge as they jumped to the sides. Being separated, one of them barely avoided the danger to the right, but a second later she heard a sound from the air. She lifted her head up just to see the picture of the blue-haired opponent coming down at her with incredible speed. Closing in, Quarta acted without a moment of hesitation and swung her Holy Sword down at the rook, who on other hand was only able to escape the threat by leaning back exactly before the weapon came crashing in the ground, destroying it in the radius of one meter. The hooded figure recovered quickly and made a step forward and attacked by swinging her left leg at the female knight`s chest. But the Occult Research Club`s member had obviously done her homework before hand and showed it by once again blocking the attack with the wide side of her sword and even the rook`s trait wasn`t enough to break through this defense. The kick literally stopped against the cold steel as it followed a moment of standstill, only for the blue-haired devil to grip the hilt even tighter. The next moment she pulled out a sudden burst of power and swung her weapon to the right with which the enemy was sent of flying backwards and crashing at the ribbed forest ground.

"T-this is absurd." The same rook said, while coughing up and getting up. "I thought you said you`re a knight. What`s with this ridiculous arm strength?"

"Back in my exorcist`s days I was put under harsh training in order to wield the Holy Swords." Quarta answered calmly.

And as if the word 'exorcist' instantly hammered in the opponent`s ears. "Wait… You were a servant of the Church too?"

"That`s right." Xenovia replied back, raising her voice. "I was, but I willingly forsake that and became a devil."

"Willingly?" The rook repeated in shock, not believing what she just heard. "Who would do that?" She shouted out angrily.

The knight didn`t answer right away and instead bowed her head. There was time when she though the same and accused everyone that abandoned the serve under God and strayed away no matter the circumstances. That was also how she felt at her first meeting with Asia. Back then, she insulted the former nun and wanted to kill her, so she can be 'forgiven.' However, when the truth of God`s death came to surface things took a turn in Quarta`s life as she began doubting about the whole time that she spent serving the Church. With that, she came to regret the way she talked to the bishop and often asked for her forgiveness. In time, the two Italian girls became dear friends. Now that precious friend needed help and Xenovia was ready to put her own life to save Asia.

"I choose this path on my will and I`m going to continue walking on it." She finally answered, taking a fighting stance.

Her opponent on the other hand said nothing and simply dashed at her once again. Despite that, the blue-haired devil kept her calm and just as Diodora`s servant came two meters before her, she made an out-all horizontal swing with Durandal in the open air. The force was so great that it created a powerful shockwave that clashed with the enemy`s body, pushing her back couple meters. But this time, Quarta didn`t leave the rook time to recover and charged forward by sprinting. The hooded figure tried to quickly regain balance and meet the attacker head on by shooting a fist at the former exorcist`s head. Unfortunately for her, the latter was a step ahead thanks to her enhanced speed as a knight and had already dodged by ducking under the attack. After that she smashed the broad side of her weapon in the other girl`s stomach and with such strength that instantly caused small amount of blood to be coughed up from her mouth. Not wasting any more time, Xenovia finished the started by completing the swing as she once again sent the rook`s body flying backwards. This time she flew few meters just before she crashed at a nearby tree. Back bend like a arch, the hit caused the loss of consciousness even before it dragged down with face on the earth.

Couple meters to the left, Kiba was fighting the other rook when the sudden events near them broke their battle for a second. Seeing the unmoving body of her comrade, Astraroth`s servant clenched hands in fists out of anger and launcher herself at the young boy. Her attacks still had their enhanced power, although none of them hit the mark. And on top of that it appeared that separated from each other, the rooks` skill level dropped down. To that, the Sword Birth user responded by evading all of the charges and when the time was right he launched forward, ducking under the enemy`s legs and cutting her two legs and arms with his sword with the thought of only wounding the female. And all of that was made so fast that she failed to realized when it happened. Yuuto`s speed was something she witnessed for the first time. Feeling the cuts on her body, the rook was barely able to keep standing, but somehow managed to turn around and dash at blonde-haired knight again and attack by shooting her left hand forward in the form of a fist.

All of a sudden, an unknown figure jumped before she reached the first meter and out of nowhere created a strange mirror, which took the hit`s force and sent it back.

"What?" The rook evoked.

Standing in front of boy, there was a young woman in her late teens. She had long black hair, extending all the way to her legs with split bangs and light-brown eyes that lied behind blue, semi-rimmed glasses with square lenses. Her attire consisted of the Gremory`s devils known Kuoh Academy school uniform for girls. Both Yuuto and Xenovia knew who this was.

"Tsubaki-senpai!" The male devil called out, recognizing the person as Sona Sitri`s queen.

"I`ve come to provide support, Kiba-kun." His senior said, without turning towards him. Just like that, in her right appeared a long weapon in the form of a stick on the end of which there was a hilt and after it a crooked blade. It was her primary weapon, a naginata.

"We`re not done yet!" The hooded opponent shouted, while running straight at them.

"Your opponent is-" The student council`s Vice President declared, readying herself to fight.

Surprisingly, this was unnecessary anymore when she and the two knights saw how the rook`s body just got cut through the chest by something unknown with an bullet speed at least that a wide cut opened itself on the girl`s body with a second of delay. Great amount of blood splashed out, painting the healthy earth in red. A moment later black marks came from the wound and started spreading through the entire body as it lurched backwards, falling on the ground. It was then when the three devils looked to the left just to see a girl with long black hair, dressed mostly in black, holding an katana in her right hand.

"Akame!" Xenovia called to the teen, recognizing her.

Hearing that, Shinra turned towards the boy and asked. "Is she an ally?"

"Yes." He answered. "Well, it`s a long story that isn`t for this place and time."

"Are you alright?" The said teen questioned, directed to the Occult Research Club`s members, while approaching them. There was an unknown woman next to them, but seeing how they openly acted meant that she must be an ally. Further, there wasn`t even the slightest killing intent coming from her, which convinced the assassin.

"We`re fine. What about you?" The blue-haired teen replied and returned the concern. Even so, this only earned her a nod in return.

"Anyway, we must hurry and head for the shrine." Yuuto said and the other two swords wielders nodded in agreement.

"Then I will go back and help the rest." The queen stated.

"Thank you very much, Tsubaki-senpai!" The blonde thanked with a smile on his face. "If it`s you I`m certain that it will be of a great help."

This comment seemed to broke the third-year student`s guard. She felt her cheeks getting red. After all, this was the first time that a boy complimented her and it was done so elegantly that it just boosted her embarrassment. "I wish you good luck." She turned around, while not wanting to be seen in this state and started walking in the direction from which came.

The other three youngsters also changed their direction and dashed towards the shrine, where Asia was held captive by Diodora Astraroth.

Meanwhile, on the opposite left side of the yard, Koneko and Gasper were facing against all the pawns. Their battle was definitely the most difficult in terms of numbers, two versus seven. As expected their opponents were all young girls slightly older than them. The battle so far was going by the dictation of the numerous enemies, which used some kind of synchronization trick to move like one. This was proving itself to be dangerous for the Gremory devils, putting them to get on the defense during the whole fight as a result the rook was forced to prolong the battle. She took the bishop on her back and ran back the way they came from, instantly followed by their pursuers, who continued to move in perfect sync. And just like that, they outran the two first-year students when one of them jumped in front of them and swung her left leg at Toujou` head. Despite that, the latter remained calm and reacted by jumping over the attacker.

"Wait, Kone-" Gasper cried out of fear, while tightening his grip around his friend`s neck, but was too late with that. The rook had already jumped over and landed behind the pawn.

"You`re not getting away!" Another one of Diodora`s servants claimed, attacking from the left as she shoot left hand in a fist straight towards the nekomata`s head once again.

But yet again, Koneko dodged with an ease by ducking under and then sharply launching herself forward and even her comrade escaped the danger as if it was rehearsed. Seconds later, third pawn came out behind a tree with a jump, aiming a kick with her right leg at her opponent`s chest. However, this turned out another failure as the rook leaned backwards just as the attacker was about to land a blow. This created an opening in the hooded person`s defense and Toujou took it without hesitation, grabbing the enemy`s stretched leg and spun around clocklike with the thought to increase the force just before she let the leg of go, which sent the other girl flying back with unstoppable. Noticing this chance, the white-haired teen went for the finish and just like that released her right hand from holding Gasper`s leg and opened it up. The next moment in her palm appeared a hug mass of blue energy as she grabbed it and with a swing threw it at the same opponent, hitting her right in the stomach. The hit was so powerful that it literally hammered the target in a nearby tree and broke right through it.

"You`re amazing, Koneko-chan!" The bishop commented on top of his fellow Occult Research Club member and friend.

And indeed, the rook felt that she had become stronger. This past two months she alongside Issei and the rest had received a rough training from Tatsumi, who noticed their lack of physical skills and endurance. In her case, she went under many hours of running marathons, exercises and hand-to-hand combat as the green-eyed teen insisted on it by saying that should she continue to train, she will eventually surpass him. Now, the nekomata finally started to believe in it and this somehow made her feel confident in herself for the first time.

"I will protect everyone." Toujou said.

Her thoughts were interrupted when another opponent jumped out from the front and shoot a punch at her face and this time it seemed to have succeeded in catching her off guard with a speed that wasn`t the best, but still enough to put her in danger.

"Now I got you." The pawn said proudly.

For her surprise nothing like that happened as just before the hit was fact, the hand literally stopped at once place and not only it, but the person itself and the area around the two first-year students.

"I won`t let you hurt Koneko-chan!" Gasper stated with a determinate voice. Just before the enemy landed a blow on his friend he gathered courage and used his Sacred Gear, the Forbidden Balor View to stop the time. It was something, that the human-vampire hybrid was originally scared of using, except when he had to hide from someone. This changed when he was unsealed and met up with Issei and the rest. Ever since then he started slowly overcoming his fears.

"…Thank you, Ga-kun!" The rook thanked with a smile, while taking advantage of the situation as she ducked under the attack and her own turn and dove her left hand in a fist in the other girl`s stomach.

When the time-stopping effect disappeared, Diodora`s servant was pushed couple of meters back.

"Did time stop just now?" Another of the pawns evoked in shock.

"Everyone, we must defeat them." The one that was hit a moment ago said, while getting. "No matter how many the opponents are there, we mustn`t loose."

"Then you won`t mind us joining in." Suddenly a voice echoed through the area.

Following it, all the devils turned to the left when they spotted two figures approaching them by walking slowly until they finally became fully visible to the rest. They both were young girls somewhere around their age. One of them had long white hair and blue-green eyes, wearing the same outfit as Koneko and Gasper. The other one was tall with blue, shoulder-length hair and matching eyes, wearing also the specific Kuoh Academy girls` uniform.

'That`s…' The nekomata thought to herself, recognizing the newcomers.

"Who are you?" One of the pawns questioned impatiently.

"The name is Tsubasa Yura!" The taller one introduced herself with a smile on her face. "I`m Sona Sitri`s rook."

"And I`m Momo Hanakai, Sona Sitri`s bishop!" The other one quickly followed in casually.

"They are out of those that we are supposed to fight in the Rating Game next week?" Someone of Astraroth`s servants reacted with an surprised voice. "Why are they here at this time?"

"We were asked to help the Gremory group to save their friend." Momo answered calmly.

"That`s right." Her fellow Student Council member agreed. "So you can go on. We`ll take them on them for you." She added, turning towards Toujou and Valdi.

Hearing that, the white-haired first-year nodded and ran besides their helpers, disappearing in the forest, while carrying Gasper on her back. Sona`s devils waited to be sure that their juniors are out of their reach and prepared to fight the remaining six pawns.

In the meantime, the showdown between Issei and Kokabiel was continuing even after all this time, which no doubt became the longest battle that the young devil had fought, his previous one being again against the same opponent when the latter attacked Kuoh Academy in order to cause a war. Back then, no matter how much the boy and the rest tried, they couldn`t defeat the fallen angel. That was until Vali showed up and brutally overwhelmed the experienced Cadre within just couple of minutes. But that time then Hyoudou was still immature in terms of skills and also hadn`t achieved his Balance Breaker unlike now. Having trained countess hours with his stepbrother and finally reaching this power on his own, he was now ready to fight his enemies with all his might.

Currently, both of them were exchanging attacks from close range in the air and it was the man`s turn to be offensive. He used the two swords of light, which he created few minutes ago and swung the one in his right hand straight at the teen`s head, but just as expected it had no result. The pawn simply and easily leaned backwards and then out of the nowhere performed a summersault at one place, while aiming both of his legs at the opponent`s chin. Unfortunately, this was ineffective as the fallen angel blocked by using his wings to shield himself and then instantly counterattacked with them again as he spread them again as they clashed against his younger enemy. The force was strong that it not only dealt some damage, but also pushed the devil about five meters away.

"What`s wrong kid?" Kokabiel called out mockingly. "Getting tired already?" He added, while creating a big magical circle from which he shoot couple small spears of light at the target.

'Crap, I used too much energy.' Issei cursed in his mind as dodged the attack by flying left and right.

'**He is a formidable opponent, who can easily back it up.'** Ddraig stated casually.

'I know that already damn it.' The devil protested to his partner.

Their private conversation was interrupted when the enemy`s voice reached the brown-haired boy`s ears, earning himself instant attention. "Hey kid, I`m asking you again. Why don`t you join me?" He offered with a devilish look on his face. "Imagine what the two of us can do together. We`ll be feared and respect thro-" He continued suggesting, but was cut off by the latter.

"In your dreams old man." The youngster shouted out back. "I have to be crazy to join the likes of you."

"And here I thought of being generous." The Cadre sighed. "Well, it was fun. Don`t worry, I`ll be sure to compliment you to your master after I destroy you." He said and just like that stretched his hands up and light began to gather around them and expend drastically.

All of a sudden, some kind of blue line came from beneath the fallen angel and stretched all the way to him, grabbing itself around his left hand, which stopped the process and the light dispersed into nothingness. The man angrily looked down but was surprised once again when what seemed like a water serpent appeared in front of him and crashed at his body as if it was eating him. Being pressed down by the incredible amount of water he felt pain constantly surfacing from inside him that continued for few moments before he recovered and created a weapon of light and swung with it, cutting the elemental creature in two. Drenched all over, Kokabiel`s confident smirk had now vanished as he now grifted teeth just to see the strange line still wrapped around his hand. A moment later footsteps were heard from the attack`s direction, to which both the devil and fallen angel turned to when they saw two figures coming out from the shadows of the trees.

"Hey, Hyoudou! Need some help?" One of them called to the boy.

"Saji! Council`s President!" Issei replied back joyfully, recognizing the people as Sona Sitri and her pawn Genshirou Saji.

"Serafall`s little sister, huh?" The Cadre spoke up. "You dare interrupt us."

"**Partner, now is your chance!**" The dragon inside the brown-haired teen pointed out, noticing the distraction in their enemy.

"Right!" His host agreed an just like that pointed his left hand forward with an opened palm in which red energy began to gather and Ddraig`s voice once again start to count.

"**BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST…"**

This was instantly noticed by the fallen angel as he turned towards his original opponent and also started creating a weapon of light that became bigger and bigger. However, it was too slow compared to the other side where the energy was now forming a mass double the size of a normal ball.

"…**BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!"**

Just like before, the Red Dragon Emperor pulled his hand back to the level of his shoulder and then darted it forward with all the power he could muster, sending the overcharged attack at his older enemy. Seeing that, the man grabbed the light weapon and threw it against the incoming beam with the hope his spear to destroy the other one and continue at the devil, but the reality was something absolutely opposite. The pawn`s charge literally devoured the uncompleted spear and shortly after that crashed at the fallen angel`s hard and sturdy body. And this time, even Kokabiel wasn`t able to endure it. A huge explosion of red energy erupted at the spot, which let out such a powerful shockwave that as if split the air in two. When the bright light faded away the three devils saw how the Cadre fell down on the solid ground and only to try to painfully get up back on his legs, while being pissed off. That was so, because he hated when things didn`t go his way, but right now he realized that would have to do the unthinkable for him and retreat. The Red Dragon Emperor turned out to be stronger than he expected and with Leviathan`s sister currently at present, he was in a big disadvantage.

"Remember this kid. Next time I`ll obliterate you." The man threatened and with that a magical circle appeared under him and he disappeared, announcing this as Issei`s win.

Shortly after that, the said boy landed on the ground and immediately let out probably the biggest sigh of relief that he had ever made in his life just to be approached by Sona and Saji. Seeing them, only his helmet went off, revealing his face.

"Hyoudou, that was awesome!" The blonde commented with excitement.

"We shouldn`t have expected less from Rias`s favorite Issei." The pure-blooded devil followed her servant with a smile.

"Thank you!" The brown-eyed teen thanked, scratching the back of his head and smiling with a grin. That was before he thought of something. "By the way, why are you two here?"

"We were asked by Ravel-san to help you guys." The other boy answered, which clearly surprised his fellow second-year student and rival, who blinked unbelievingly.

"Let`s leave this for later." The heiress to the Sitri family interrupted them and turned towards her best friend`s servant. "You should go and save Asia. We will stay here and help the others in defeating Diodora`s peerage."

The Red Dragon Emperor gave a nod and just like that flew off the ground and headed straight towards the shrine where his precious friend was held against her will. 'Wait for me Asia. I`m coming.' He said to himself.

Back at the shrine, Rias was still fighting the other high-class devil in one-on-one battle, while her bishop hanged tied by the strange seal and couldn`t do anything, but to close eyes and cry silently. Even so, she didn`t have the slightest trace of anger or hatred towards her kidnapper. All she felt was fear, pain and sorrow that she won`t be able to live with her friends and family anymore that she loved from the bottom of her heart.

In that time, her master furiously fought against Astraroth, while putting everything on the line. Her tactics were bringing success, but the snake, which the man said that he got from the Ouroboros Dragon, Ophis, was making things hard for her. Thanks to that, the other pure-blooded devil`s defense was keeping him unhurt so far and he bragged about it without shame or hesitation. Currently, he processed at hurling couple of conjured blades at his opponent. But there it came his problem, which was to hit the woman even once. To this point no matter how many times he attacked, the latter always found a way to dodge whenever she was in the air or on the ground, just like it was now. The green blades flew straight at the running third-year student, but she just jumped to the right.

Normally, the crimson-haired devil wasn`t this agile and athletic and she knew it herself, but it looked like being trained by Tatsumi like the rest showed not only results in Issei`s improvement, but hers as well. Due to that, she became slightly more confident in fighting on the ground, which she avoided doing in the past. Landing from the jump, she turned towards her enemy and counterattacked by shooting a huge mass of demonic energy straight at the man.

"It won`t work!" Diodora bragged again, creating a magical circle to defend himself. Just as expected this stopped the incoming, causing him to smirk even further and look at the other king.

But for his surprise, she was already about five meters to the left and continued her assault by releasing yet another power of destruction at the opponent`s unguarded side.

'_If you can`t hit an enemy head on, then keep moving around them until you find an opening from the sides. It`ll be only matter of time to crack their defense.'_

That was one of the things the former assassin told her during their training after seeing how strongly Rias kept attacking from the front and now she realized what did her pawn meant with that. And it proved effective without fail. The heir to the Astraroth family was barely able to see the attack and avoid it by leaning to the right, falling on the wooden floor with his right shoulder.

"It`s over!" The Gremory group`s leader stated, launching another charge, which was aimed at her opponent, who was still getting up.

"You bitch!" The green-haired man roared and stopped in sitting position and pointed his hands forward. All of a suddenly, a huge green wall appeared in front of him just in time as the fired energy clashed with it. Fortunately for him, it managed to neutralize the attack. Seeing it, he broke down in laughter. "The sister of a fake devil is also fake after all. You can`t do anything alone."

"She`s not alone." A voice came out from Diodora`s left, to which he turned only to see lightning of blue and yellow coming right at him with an immense speed. Panic and fear took the better of him as a result he fell down on the ground and instantly created couple of magic circles to defend himself. Unfortunately, they proved to be useless as attack pierced them and collided with the target. Electric pain surfaced through his body as he shoot a look forward to see his attacker, who turned out to be Rias`s queen. "Our President has us by her side." The black-haired woman said proudly. A second later, the sound of footsteps echoed through the premise and when the two pure-blooded devils looked at their direction, they saw the rest the Gremory group running inside.

'Damn, those weaklings couldn`t stop even opponents such as them.' Diodora cursed in his mind.

"Everyone!" The crimson princess called out with a relief.

"It`s too la-! The green-haired devil claimed, but was cut off when suddenly two meters hole broke through the roof and from it appeared the figure of Issei in red armor.

"President, take this!" The pawn shouted out, while nearing his master and out of nowhere touched her right shoulder with his left hand, after which fell on the floor.

"**TRANSFER!"** Ddraig`s voice spoke up.

"Thank you, my cute Ise!" Rias thanked with a smile just before an incredible burst of power erupted from her as it began to shake the entire area around like an earthquake, captivating everyone in the room. After that she turned towards the enemy "Begone!" She said, while releasing yet another surge of demonic energy aimed straight at the same target.

"Stay away!" Astraroth screamed and put up another green wall to block the other pure-blooded devil`s charge. But luck wasn`t on his side this time and that was shown when the power of destruction destroyed the barrier and astounded the man with its disintegrating matter and if it wasn`t for Diodora being a high-class and pure-blood it would have resulted in an instant death. Even so, the damage was sufficient that it immobilized the traitor to the point of him only being to crawl on the floor. "How can I lose to someone like that fake devil? I`m an descendant of the Beelzebub and have received Ophis`s pow-." He cursed, but was interrupted as the other king`s shoes popped out before his vision.

"Now tell me how to free Asia." She demanded with dead serious face, backed up by an enormous aura.

"You can`t! This Longinus seal won`t stop until that girl has been drained off every last bit of memories and hope." The former replied back. "You lost!" He smirked.

"Not if I can help it." Hyoudou stated as he ran pass his master, pulled out his wings and stood before the tied up bishop. "Asia, I`m sorry in advance."

"Issei-san?" The girl whispered weakly

But she received no answer from the boy, who instead grabbed the seal, closed his eyes and concentrated. "Rise up my delusions, my desires!" The pawn started as if chanting, instantly followed by his Sacred Gear.

"**BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST! BOOST!"**

"Dress Break! Balance Breaker, Boost Version!" The brown-eyed teen shouted and just like that a bright light started glowing and it the next moment vanished with no sign of the seal that was bound to the former nun as she fell directly on top of her love, who`s armor had now disappeared. But it wasn`t only that had gone missing, but the young Italian`s clothes as well.

"He`s the worst after all." Koneko stated with a disappointed voice, but replaced it with a smile on her face. "But he`s also the best… Issei-senpai that is."

In that time, Asia had gotten up with her clothing restored by magic casted by Akeno. Not a second later after she stepped on her legs, the blonde girl was greeted by crying Xenovia, who clashed into a big hug with her.

"Thank goodness you`re alright." The blue-haired knight sobbed.

"There, there." Argento comforted her friend by fondling her hair.

"Alright, let`s go home. Ravel must be worried." Rias said. The rest nodded as they turned around and headed towards the exit of the premise, but were cut off by someone.

"Not yet." That someone turned out to be Akame, who approached Diodora, stopping right before him and raising her right hand, holding Murasame, ready to take his life.

"Wait, it`s your victory. Why do you want to kill me?" The man panicked at the spot. His eyes looking at the assassin`s cold red ones, while giving off not even the slightest piece of hesitation or mercy. Not even bloodlust for the matter. Only steel determination came out of them.

"Please don`t do it, Akame-san!" Asia pleaded. "I forgive Diodora-san for what he did, because I have faith that God would do the same." She continued, clapping her hands together in front of her like a prayer. 'If I can be together with Issei-san and the rest, I`ll never feel loneliness or sadness and that`s what matters to me. So I pray to the Heavenly Father to protect my most precious Issei-san. Please here my wish.'

However, the red-eyed teen didn`t even listen and prepared to slice off the yet another evil doer, just like she had eliminated those that even the Heavens can`t judge. That was the reason behind the founding of Night Raid. It was a rule to not let a single target live if possible, because that could result in lots of people dying undeserved. Kill to save. That was what she had been taught to do from child and that was the only think she was capable of doing. Thus, she readied herself to strike once again, but was stopped when her senses kicked in for incoming danger from behind. She turned around only to see a pillar of yellow light glowing on top of the former nun and it didn`t take her long to identify it as dangerous and act without wasting any time. For only couple of seconds, the red-eyed teen sprinted towards the blonde girl, grabbed her and jumped forward just before the light vanished, surprising everyone in the process.

"What`s wrong, Akame-senpai?" Gasper asked out through state of confusion.

"There is someone else in this room." She answered without moving her look even an inch.

"What?" Issei evoked only to be interrupted by the same kind of light, coming from the direction of the premise wall.

The light started to materialize until it finally formed the figure of an unknown to them person. It was a handsome man with long brown hair, reaching all to the way to his hips with many split bangs that covered his right eye, having only his left brown one visible. He wore black armor with a cape.

"Behold sister of a fake satan, this is an true devil, descendant of the real Beelzebub, I am Shalba Beelzebub." The man introduced himself proudly.

"The Old Satan Faction!" Rias grinned teeth, quickly coming up with an answer to the man`s group.

"Calling the true bloodline old is unforgivable, just as that pathetic excuse for a devil that prays over there." The Khaos Brigade`s member said.

"Insulting my servants warrants death!" Rias threatened angrily as a demonic aura began to emit from within her body.

"Silence!" The former demanded and just like for everyone`s surprise created a weapon of light in his left hand and threw it at the crimson-haired woman.

Seeing the danger, the Gremory`s heiress dodged by pushing herself of the ground to the right using her wings. Unfortunately, she didn`t judge the distance and direction to well and found herself with her back towards the third pure-blooded devil in this premise in the face of Diodora Astraroth. Noticing that chance, the man mustered all the strength that he had left and got up, while planning to attack meanly at the his opponent`s wide opened back. He opened his right palm and processed to fire couple of his conjured blades as they would definitely hit from this short distance and cause lethal damage even to a high-class devil like Sirzches`s sister.

"Die, Rias Gremory!" The green-haired man said with a smirk.

"President!" Kiba shouted and tried to sprint there, but was forced to stop as Akame had already started doing that.

Suddenly, she caught a barely perceptible presence of someone else entering the room, forcing her to stop and look up to that one hole in the roof, created by Issei minutes ago. The next moment the sound of cutting flesh echoed through the area and absolutely everyone watched in amazement how Diodora`s body got cut into four pieces by something invisible. The parts simply scattered in separate directions and great amount of blood splashed out like fountain, bathing the crimson-ruin princess in the red liquid just as a cold shower. But what stunned them more was that behind the woman now stood a tall silver-armored person with a savage, reptilian-based shape with claws on the gauntlets and feet, as well as a secondary pair of eyes. In his right hand there was a big spear with a scarlet red blade in a unique shape.

"Made it by a hair`s breadth." The person spoke up with familiar voice for the youngsters.

"Tatsumi?" Rias called out, turning towards the armor.

"Yup." The teen confirmed. "Sorry for the wait."

"It`s Bro! He`s back!" Issei called out in relief, followed by the rest, who were glad to see their friend safe and sound once again.

The one that was most happy was none other than his fellow Night Raid comrade and friend. She instantly took notice of Incursio`s new appearance, which meant that it must had evolved again after the last time the red-eyed teen saw it in action. But the only thing that mattered was the fact the brown-haired assassin was alive considering that he had been with the enemy one more time.

Sadly, the warm thoughts were interrupted when another spear of light was thrown by the enemy at the Occult Research Club`s leader once more, aimed at her head. Only to prove itself futile as Tatsumi spun around his master for less than three seconds and swung Neuntote swiftly at the incoming charge, destroying with an ease.

"I don`t know who you are, but your existence is troublesome." Shalba said and pointed his left hand forward.

All of a sudden, a big magical circle appeared beneath the armored teen and pure-blooded devil and just like that a bright white light erupted from it, shooting itself up in the air like a pillar, even piercing through the roof. The force caused the wooden floor to shake and start breaking as it was nothing.

"This should take care of that matter." Beelzebub claimed and focused on the other young opponents.

However, it was all crushed down when the Incursio`s host came out with a forward summersault unscratched from the light, while carrying the heiress to the Gremory family over his right shoulder. Seeing that, the man stretched his right to create another weapon of light, opening himself to counterattacks. And that was the former assassin did even in the process of falling. Holding his spear in his left hand, he pulled it back and then mightily threw it at the older enemy. Despite the long distance the attack flew so fast that it reached its target in such short period that the Khaos Brigade`s member had luck to thank in this situation as the sharp steel found itself just few centimeters from his heart, stabbing at the connection of his left shoulder and arm. As a result the two parts were just separated from each other and while Shalba kept floating in the air, his hand fell down on the floor and bloody at that.

'Damn. I threw it too much to the right.' The pawn thought to himself as he landed, still holding the woman the same way as her face on his back and her legs hanged and leaning on his armored chest.

"You haven`t heard the last of Shalba Beelzebub." The man threatened, before a yellow light covered him and he disappeared by teleportation, finally putting an end to this long-termed battle to save Asia from Diodora Astraroth, whose body parts lied throughout the premise`s floor.

Noticing it, the green-eyed boy scanned the area for some hidden presence, but such couldn`t be felt nowhere, to which he let out a sigh and with that his armor disappeared too. Wearing a smile on his face, the boy looked at his friends, joyfully coming straight at him.

"Um… Tatsumi?" Rias`s voice brought him to reality.

"What is it?" He asked casually.

"You can let go of my butt now." She said, being embarrassed.

"Sorry." The pawn dropped his senior down in panic.

"Hey, Bro!" Issei shouted out, breaking the awkward mood. "You finally got back and now you`re harassing the President."

"I`m not!" The latter defended.

"Yes, you were just now." His stepbrother continued with the accusations. "Touch someone`s else ass, cause I`m not giving you the President`s.

"Geez, don`t fight over me you hear." Their master scolded them.

"My, my, Issei-kun is right Tatsumi. If you want to touch someone`s else, you can always have mine." Akeno barged in the discussion and giggled.

"I`m not going to lose." Xenovia interrupted next. "Tatsumi, feel free to touch whenever you want."

Hearing that, complete silence moved in for few moments as all eyes stopped on the green-eyed teen and continued to stare at him, until the other brown-haired devil broke it.

"To think that Akeno-san and Xenovia would go this far. I knew that Bro is perverted from the very beginning." He stated with an excitant voice.

"Says the pervert." Tatsumi muttered ironically.

"Tatsumi!" An soft voice echoed from the back of the group, earning the said teen`s attention. When he looked between the Occult Research Club members he saw her. Right behind them stood Akame. The same girl that he met under the full moon of that summer night, who almost killed him if it wasn`t for a good luck charm from his village. The same girl that at first was cold and indifferent towards him, but soon opened herself and it was then when he understood the gentle, kind, carrying and sometimes fragile person that was hiding beneath the mask of a ruthless killer. Ever since then, this girl became a precious someone in his life, who he didn`t want to lose or tried to avoid her to experience the pain of grieving over his death. That was what this fellow Night Raid member had turned for him just as he remembered her the last day of the war against the Empire. "It`s good to see you again."

"You too!" He returned with a smile, but then out of nowhere bowed his head down "I`m sorry Akame."

"What for?" The black-haired assassin questioned in wonder.

"My promise… I couldn`t keep it." The boy answered, still looking down. "Even though I promised you that I wouldn`t die. And I did the same with the others." He continued as his voice became sad all of a sudden. "Yet I broke it. I died in your arms and made you to burden it." His hands clenched in fists and shaking. "I failed not only me, but you and everyone else that walked alongside us. I`m sorry." He finished.

Deep silence took control over the area around in which no one neither did or said anything, just simply observed the young teen in question, waiting to see what will happen next and how things were going to unfold. The atmosphere got tense as it silently pierced the air itself.

"Tatsumi?" Akeno whispered to herself, seeing the person that she loved being in such state.

'He has been blaming himself for that all along. And yet he never even complained.' Yuuto thought to himself, shocked at his fellow family member`s state of mind.

Suddenly, this mood was broken when the red-eyed teen approached her friend, stretched her right hand, opened her palm and hit him on the tip of his head like a knock on the door, which earned herself his and everyone`s attention.

"It`s okay, Tatsumi." She finally replied with a smile. "You did your best and fought to the very end." She stopped for a second before continuing. "If it wasn`t for you on that day, not only us, but also many soldiers and innocent people would have lost their lives. You did something no one else could. I`m proud to be your friend and that`s why I`ll always forgive you. So you should be more proud of yourself, Tatsumi." She stretched her right hand for a handshake with the same warm smile.

"Akame!" The boy couldn`t help it anymore and ignored the stretched hand and literally crashed at the girl`s body, hugging her with all his might as this surprised not only her, but the other youngsters as well. The girl remained still for a moment before she joined the hug by enfolding her arms under her friend`s armpits and putting them on his shoulders from behind. "I thought I would never see you again."

"But we do. So let`s live on, Tatsumi!" The red-eyed teen replied back, keeping her smiling face.

"Yeah…" He said and pulled back, breaking the hug. "…You`re right, Akame." He finished and pulled out a big nice grin on his face. They were that kind of smiles that he used to make during his beginning as an assassin. The other assassin herself liked seeing them as they somehow made her feel fuzzy, yet warmed her heart with positive emotions every time.

Meanwhile, the rest watched happily at the joyful reunion in front of them in which two people were seeing each other again after almost half and year and even if someone of the devils wanted to resists sympathize with them, it was just impossible for anyone to do so.

"They finally meet each other again." Xenovia said happily.

"They deserve it. I`m sure both of them will keep living with all their might." Rias commented confidently.

"Akame-san and Tatsumi-san really are great people." Asia said, being moved by the scene, while whipping some tears that had gathered in the bags of her eyes.

"I think so too." Issei supported the former nun.

"Now, we should get going." The household`s master interrupted. "Ravel must be worried about us, being all alone."

"Well… it`s not exactly like that. I kind of left her some company in the hurry." The green-eyed boy corrected, scratching the back of his head.

"What does that mean, Tatsumi-sempai?" Gasper asked in confusion.

"You`ll see when we get there." He answered.

And so they turned around and headed outside of the shrine. There they met up with Sona Sitri and her peerage, who had finished dealing with the last of Diodora`s servants. The crimson-haired devil thanked her best friend for the help and promised to return the favor only to be cut off by the other pure-blooded devil, who said there is no need for that. After a short conversation of what had happened and chatting between each other, the two households went their separate ways as the Sitri teleported back to their hometown, while the Gremory did the same, but towards the mansion in Okayama.

Seconds after they used a magic circle to move from their current place to their destination, they all saw their familiar ceiling of the living-room on the first floor. Nothing had changed on the first look as the premise was empty and only the two dead bodies distinguished from the peaceful looking atmosphere. They had already started to decompose and a terrible smell emitted from them.

"Boys, would you please take those corpses out?" Rias turned towards the male part of her devils.

"I must go to the bathroom first." Issei replied back and went through one of the doors that led to the inside.

"It seems Ravel-san couldn`t bear the smell and escaped to some of the other rooms." Kiba guessed after noticing that the said girl`s absence in this place.

All of a sudden, the sound of someone falling to the ground echoed through the opened from which the brown-eyed teen passed by as he had forgotten to close it up. A second later his piercing voice followed the lead.

"W-What the hell are you doing here?" He asked someone.

"What`s with this cold greeting, nya?" Someone replied back.

"Nya?" Xenovia repeated unbelievingly.

"This voice and this presence…" The rook instantly recognized the source.

"Thought this would happen. Even if I hoped it`d go better." Tatsumi sighed and disappeared through the same door as well.

The rest looked confused before following inside the mansion, passing on the huge corridor that led towards the only kitchen in the entire building, where something unexpected was able to stun them surprised at what they saw. Some of them at least were, except for Akame, Asia, Gasper and Xenovia. Right before them jumped out the picture of three figures, two of which were a sitting on the ground shocked Issei, a standing calm Tatsumi and the last one was…

"Kuroka-neesama!" Toujou called out in shock to her sister.

"Hello, Shirone!" The later returned back with a playful voice. "I`m happy to see you again, nya!"

"This is Koneko-chan`s onee-chan?" Valdi blurted in surprise.

However, before anyone could say anything anymore, two more figures appeared from the room`s right corner. One of them was their familiar Ravel Phenex, who had a troubled expression on her face. The other one was a girl around the same age with an similar blonde hair, blue eyes, wearing a sorceress like outfit with a blue pointy hat.

"Ah, so you have returned? That`s great." The unknown person spoke up smiling.

"Just what`s going on here?" Rias asked as her voice ruled over the premise. After that she turned towards the stray devil "If you came for Koneko, then I-" She began to threaten, but was cut off when the green-eyed assassin pulled his right hand in front of her.

"I can explain this." He claimed with a determinate look on his face. "They are with me. I made a deal with Vali to cooperate with each other."

"Say what?" His stepbrother shouted.

"I help him with something and in return he helps me get home. Without it I`d still be nowhere near home." The other pawn continued, shortly summarizing the story.

"So you made a deal to use this to your advantage?" Yuuto questioned his friend, receiving a nod as a reply.

"But why did you bring them here?" Quarta asked next.

"They came as bonus." Tatsumi joked casually, to which the black-haired bishop fussed in return. "Is what I want to say, but I also promised Kuroka to let her talk with Koneko."

"You did something like that for her, am I right?" Akeno said as a small smile slid on her face.

"Yeah, because I`d like those two to make up." The green-eyed teen answered and then turned towards their family`s rook. "Koneko, your sister really loves you. So give her a chance, okay?"

The said white-haired devil couldn`t believe that this senior of her did such a thing in order for her to get the opportunity to talk not with someone random, but with the sister that she had to go separate ways without even being able to say at least one goodbye. And right now there lied the perfect chance. "Thank you, Tatsumi-sempai!" She thanked, barely holding tears of coming from her eyes.

"So what was the thing you had to help with?" The queen questioned again.

"That would be me." Suddenly an unknown voice flew through the kitchen and the next moment everyone with how a young girl around the same age as Toujou, Ravel, Gasper and Le Fay. She had long black hair, gray eyes and wore gothic Lolita cloths.

"**Oh-ho, this is a surprise."** Ddraig spoke all of a sudden from within his host`s left hand **"Didn`t expect to run into you any time soon, Ophis."**

"It has been many years, Ddraig." Ophis replied back.

Hearing that, the whole Occult Research Club except for the brown-haired assassin and his fellow red-eyed comrade went in shock and amazement.

"So yeah. Vali wants me to protect her for some time, while she`s here to watch over Issei`s growth." The pawn explained.

"This is the Ouroboros Dragon, who founded Khaos Brigade." Rias said hesitatingly.

"**I see. So you are interested in my current host."** The Red Dragon Emperor thought.

"We also want to hide Ophis-sama here for a while, because Khaos Brigade are looking for her." The sorceress blonde girl said.

"By the way, I`ve been wondering about it. Who are you?" Quarta questioned, looking at the unknown teen.

"Me?" She pointed ignorant. "My name is Le Fay Pendragon and I`m a human. It`s nice to meet you everyone!"

"Wait, by Pendragon you mean?" The former exorcists evoked in surprise.

"That`s right. Arthur onii-sama and I are descendants of King Arthur and Morgan Le Fay." She nodded proudly.

"You got to be kidding me." Issei`s eyes widened. "I can`t take it anymore. Too much happened for just one freaking day." He finished and gorged himself on the floor like a sea star.

""My my, things sure are getting popping one after another." The queen giggled.

"Geez, I guess we`ll have to put up with this." Rias interrupted and then turned towards the stray devil. "Kuroka, I trust you won`t try to take Koneko secretly?" She threatened as a red demonic aura started to glow around her.

"I won`t, nya! Shirone is my sister and I want her to be safe with me the most. However, a promise is a promise." The other woman replied, showing no signs of dangerous intent coming from her.

"Now everyone, it`s time for dinner." Asia changed the subject all of a sudden and not only that, but the mood as well.

"I almost forgot about it." Kiba supported with a smile.

"Yeah, let`s eat." Issei said, getting up from the ground.

"Wait up, boys!" The crimson-haired called out with a serious voice. "Take the dead bodies outside first and place them somewhere that they won`t disturb us." She finished as the male part of the group nodded and headed towards the living-room on the first floor. "And Tatsumi." She looked at the said pawn. "I want to talk to you in my room after dinner."

"Okay!" The green-eyed assassin replied.

With that they left the kitchen and headed at the premise where the corpses were in. There acted at the instant as Yuuto and Issei took one together, while the former assassin had to carry the other one all by himself. After that, three devils went outside the mansion as they decided to bury the girls` bodies at the very edge of the cliff on which they were and started walking that direction. Half an later, they were all done and without wasting any time returned back in the building just in time as the dinner was prepared by no one else, but Le Fay, who demonstrated her impressionable skills in cooking. When that was in the past, everyone fixed themselves and went to their rooms. The magician took an empty room on the second floor, while Kuroka went to sleep with her sister in one premise on the same floor on the different side.

Noticing it, Tatsumi remembered what was said to him and headed towards his master`s room on the second floor. Reaching the place, he stood for a moment and after swallowing grabbed the handle, pushed it down and then entered as if was going in his own one.

'Crap, forgot to knock first.' The boy cursed, but was already too late. Just like that picture of three figures popped in front of him. Akeno and Xenovia standing around Rias. However, the most awkward thing for him was the fact that the pure-blooded devil was in the middle of changing and currently only wore her black pants. Hyoudou froze at the spot with an opened mouth and widened eyes, while the other side the his master`s cheeks got red like an apple as she hurried to cover her visible breasts that she have shown to Issei and once to him so far. "I saw nothing." The boy said and tried to excuse himself out of the room.

"Hold it! Don`t try to run away and take responsibility instead." The crimson-ruin princess`s voice came out dead serious.

Hearing how insisting her voice sounded, he sighed and closed the entrance before slowly turning around to face the other devils. The queen and knight were looking at him happily with smiles on their faces, but the same couldn`t be said for the king, who`s blue orbs as if tried to pierce right through his green ones and see his insides. She had putted her bra on and clearly stopped changing for now.

"Tatsumi, I want to know why you made a deal with Vali like that without permission." She said, while taking a sit on her bed and crossed legs and arms under her big chest.

"Wha- I explained that, didn`t I?" The brown-haired boy defended.

"I`m serious." She scolded. "You brought not only a SS-class stray devil like Kuroka, but even the Infinite Dragon God and leader of Khaos Brigade herself. They are our enemies."

"But also good people. You can take my word for it." The pawn replied back. "Besides, their real intentions are nothing like those terrorists."

"What does that mean?" Himejima questioned curiously.

"One wants to return to the Dimensional Gap. Another aims to defeat the Great Red, while third one wishes to protect her most precious person. None of them desire for war and killing." Tatsumi stated determinately.

"That does sound harmless." Xenovia agreed with her male friend and crush. "I support him here."

"That doesn`t change-" Rias tried to continue scolding her pawn, but cut off personally by him.

"Regarding Kuroka. I`ve seen what can happen when two sisters fight as enemies. That`s why I don`t want to see Koneko go over it if possible." The former assassin said as the feeling of care was immediately caught by the rest.

"Alright. I`ll trust your decision on this." The household`s master finally gave in and smiled at the boy.

"Then I`ll be going to sleep. Good night!" He wished and headed towards the door.

"We`re not done yet." The group`s leader called out to his back, making him turn around again. "I did agree with you, but you need to be punished for deciding something that important on your own. You get thousands slaps on the butt."

"Huh?" Hyoudou evoked unbelievingly of what he heard. "Do I look like a child to you?"

"No, but… Disciplining a servant is a master`s job." Rias claimed with a smile. "Akeno! Xenovia! Hold him."

As if planned, the other two females grabbed the boy around his arms and with joined efforts brought him down on the red carpet, putting him on his knees and hands, with his back side facing the crimson-haired woman. Noticing it, she got up from the bed and leaned over his back. Just like that, a big red magic circle appeared in her right hand and started to spin furiously.

"Here I come!" She declared and swung towards the first spank.

Fifteen minutes later, Tastumi was finally able to leave the room of torture. He felt his ass being all red over and it itched him to constantly rub it on his way towards his own private place. Finishing climbing the stairs to the fourth floor, the teen turned left when he saw the familiar figure of the other former Night Raid member standing at one of the windows and looking out of it.

"You can`t sleep?" He questioned, while closing in, receiving the expected from him nod.

"Tatsumi, you really made some great friends." Akame said, turning towards him.

"Yeah." The boy agreed. "Although, they`re bit too nosy at times."

This caused her to smile. "We weren`t much different either."

"Can`t argue with that." The brown-haired assassin replied back laughing.

All of a sudden, the good mood vanished and both of them went silent and unmoving. The clouded sky outside just boosted the tension between the two as they knew what was going to come next.

Clenching hands in fists, the devil gathered courage before finally bringing it to discussion. "So what happened… after I died?"

The red-eyed teen somehow remained calm and replied. "The Empire is no more. The Prime Minister was eliminated, the Emperor executed in public and I killed Esdeath. Everything is over. The Supreme Commander of the Revolutionary Army took control over the country, promising to bring better times and restore the damage caused from the war." She stopped for a second. "Night Raid disbanded. Boss stayed in the Capital to help with the rise of the new Empire. And as for me, I started wandering, continuing to assassinate criminals over the continent."

"I see…" The boy muttered under his nose. Even thought he was glad to hear that their hard work paid off and helped many people, he still wasn`t able to smile about it. The reason was because of the many sacrifices that had to be made along the way in order to accomplish this goal. Just like that, a though hit him in the mind. "Wait, what about Sis?" He asked nervously. However, the only thing that came from his friend was silence alone and he knew what that meant very well. "No way… Even Sis." Tears surfaced in the bags of his eyes.

"I last saw Leone on that same day. She came to me after the war`s end, hiding some injuries." Akame explained. "She then bid me farewell and disappeared. Knowing her she probably didn`t want me to see how she dies."

"If only I hadn`t died back then…" Tatsumi cursed as he hammered his left hand in fist in the wall out of anger for himself.

"You know that Leone wouldn`t blame you. So don`t blame yourself." The black-haired teen said reassuring her friend. "All we can do is carry her wishes with us. That`s our role as the survivors."

"Yeah." The pawn nodded recovering from his last state. "By the way, what are those red markings on your body?" He questioned with curiosity. "You didn`t had them before."

Hearing his question, the red-eyed teen looked at his right arm and answered. "This is the side effect of Murasame`s trump card. It enhances the wielder`s speed and strength by cutting yourself with the blade. In exchange you become responsible for all the lives taken with this weapon."

"You did mention it having one before." Hyoudou remembered. "So you used it to defeat Esdeath?" He asked, getting a nod in reply. "Are you alright?"

"I`m fine." She answered firmly. "To be honest, I feel nothing like human anymore. They were definitely drawbacks. But for some reason they have been missing since I came to this world. But after killing today I can feel the lives passing through the sword into my body." She admitted and put a hand on her chest. "It`s not something to worry about."

"If you say so, then I trust you." The second-year student supported his friend.

"You have Akeno to think about right now." The other assassin returned with a smile. "She really loves you. So much that she has been listening to our conversation from your room."

"As expected of Akame." Tatsumi grinned in return. "Good Night then." He wished, turning towards his room.

"Ah, Tatsumi!" The girl called out, earning herself his attention. Just like that she pulled her right hand from behind her back and stretched it forward. "I believe this is yours." She said. Right in teen`s palm there was a strange brown statuette that represented some kind of God. But the most noticeable thing was a cut on the middle.

"That`s…" The devil evoked in surprise, recognizing the object. "It brings such nostalgic memories. Thanks!" He thanked taking it in his hand and bit good night once again and headed towards the door of his room, but turned around having thought of something. "Hey, Akame!" The said responded to his call. "Let`s do a mock battle tomorrow. It`d be nice to test my skills against you like we used to."

"Sure." His friend agreed before disappearing into the corridor.

Tatsumi stood still for a moment, watching after the black-haired girl`s tracks. A day go he was beginning to think that he would never see anyone from his Night Raid ever again and tried to accept it. But who would have thought that Akame herself was going to appear in this world out of nowhere and by chance to meet each other again at the end of a day that started off absolutely bad. And so, while smiling he turned to the right and entered the room where just as they felt Akeno was waiting.

Next chapter – _'Like normal people' _

**And so another chapter of Second Life is done. I know I said that there won`t be too long chapters from me, but I really wanted to put everything in this Arc to end in this chapter (Tatsumi and Akame`s reunion, Koneko and Kuroka`s reunion, Asia`s rescue, the Old Satan Faction`s appearance and etc…). That`s why it turned out so long. I`m also sorry for talking one month and half to update again, but I assure you this is the fastest way I could get this chapter finished. About the tittle 'A Precious someone', I`m sure I don`t need to explain why I named it so. I have done that in the chapter itself.**

**So with this chapter I put an end to another ARC of my story. For those who are interested, the name of this one is – 'Challenges of the past'. The next one will be about the Rating Game between Rias and her team against Sairaorg Bael and his team. In the LN it`s the one against Sona and her peerage first, but I decided to change the development a little.**

**Another thing, I`m still keeping Akame`s race still a secret. So please be patient. **

**Anyway, I`m sorry for taking so long to update, but I assure that I`m giving my all to post ASAP, while considering my own situations and engagements.**

**So that`s all I wanted to say for now. Thank you for your spared time to read my work. I hope you liked it. As always, feedbacks are welcomed. If you`re going to critique, then please be constructive only. No hate or trolling. Comments containing hate or made to troll around will be deleted.**

**Well then, I`m off!**

**Kris **


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19 – _**Like normal people (part 1)**_

The following night was peaceful, quiet and calm accompanied by a bright and choppy cloud sky with cool temperatures and weak breeze and fresh air. All of this made it as if the long and tiring battle earlier this day never happened. The ground was still wet and muddy from the rain that fell before nightfall. Just like this time continued to roll unnoticeable and the raising from the east sun marked the beginning of a new day. Dew slipped down from the leaves of drenched trees and bushes, while the weather was starting to get better. This created a very beautiful and fascinating view of the sea that spread itself from the Japanese shore far away where a simple eye could see its end. It was exactly the perfect time to sleep or simply enjoy the silence and the wonderful scenery that it could very well be called a crime to break or not take notice of this current atmosphere.

Surprisingly, that kind of crime was something findable at the Gremory`s mansion back yard right this day, right this time. The culprits were two young people, a boy and a girl. Both of them were in their middle teens as they were fighting between each other with wooden bokkens. Those two were Tatsumi and Akame, who got up early way before the rest of the youngsters and proceeded to have their stipulated mock battle. Almost an hour had passed since they got out of the building and began with some practice to warm up and fifteen minutes ago they moved on the duel itself.

So far neither of them had any intention of yielding back to the other one, trying their best to outmatch the opponent. Despite that they appeared to be on an equal terms and that didn`t bother them at the slightest. Smiles crossing their faces, the youngsters exchanged blows with positive emotion directed at each other. Yet both sides couldn`t stop themselves from taking notes on how much the other one had improved. The red-eyed assassin was really glad to see her junior college to have grown to this level. It was a level where he didn`t lower his guard even for a moment and kept attacking and defending himself very well. He responded to each strike and counterattacked by the best way possible. The brown-haired boy on the other hand, also noticed a great improvement in his friend with speed many times better than before, there was barely any intervals between her attacks, which left no openings that could be used against her. This was the results of continued strict trainings and more life and death experience.

All of a sudden, a loud groan escaped Tatsumi`s mouth as fell crashing on the ground with his back when he tried to disarm the other teen by swinging his bokken horizontally at the wrists of her hands. Unfortunately, this had created a single moment gap in his defenses and Akame used it perfectly by shifting her wooden weapon as it hit the boy`s right elbow, which deflected the incoming attack. After that she ducked at lighting speed and shot the hilt of the bokken in her friend`s stomach. As a result, Hyoudou coughed out before the force pushed him towards the green, wet grass. Despite that, he didn`t step down and immediately jumped back in combat as he pushed himself from the earth with his hands and counterattacked by swinging his practice weapon from down from above. This forced the black-haired girl to defend herself with the bokken in her hands. However, as soon as the two wooden objects contacted, the devil slid his left leg to the side, thus circling around the other assassin`s defense. Or at least that was what he intended to do at first, but stopped midway and attacked from the front by swinging his weapon from below straight under his friend`s chest.

'A faint?' Akame blinked surprisingly as she crossed hands before her, using them to block the attack. Yet the force was strong enough to push her two meters back. The second she stopped she looked at her comrade with a smile. "You`ve definitely improved a lot, Tatsumi."

"You think so? I`m not the only one who has jumped levels though." The green-eyed teen replied back playfully.

"No, I really mean it. It won`t be long before you surpass me." The other former assassin said with a confident voice.

"I-it means a lot coming from you, Akame. I still got many ways to go." The boy thanked, while scratching the back of his head. "Well, let`s head back inside."

His friend nodded. "Yeah. It`s time to make breakfast. Today we`re making croquette bowls."

'Croquette bowls for breakfast. Nothing less from Akame.' Tatsumi thought to himself as he walked beside the other teen, but… "Hey, wait! We don`t have the products for that."

"Then we`ll hunt a danger beast." The black-haired girl suggested as a droll streamed down from her mouth.

"No, we can`t do that either." Hyoudou shouted out in protest.

But the former looked at him with confusion. "Why not?"

"Well… Because it`s against the law to kill animals." The boy answered, putting a hand on his chin.

"Is that so?" Akame questioned with a hint of disappointment in her voice. Tatsumi really couldn`t blame her for that. One of the things she liked the most was killing up a danger beast or more and cooking them on fire and after that eating the fried meat with hands. After all, eating could be said to be one of her hobbies. However, with the girl being in a new world now she basically had her freedom to hunt stolen from her.

Mostly yeah." He confirmed. "It`s to protect endangered species from extinction. In this world you get your products from supermarkets."

"What`s that?" The red-eyed assassin asked with interest.

"Places to buy things to eat and other stuff." Her fellow Night Raid member explained shortly. "You`ll understand once you enter one."

"I see." She noted after being told yet another difference between their old world and this one. Ever since she came here, new and strange things kept popping in front of her. One of the weirdest was the so called television or TV in short. It took her couple of hours to understand that the images displayed inside of it where broadcasted were alive from all kinds of different places or could be repeated more than one time. Another thing were some strangely looking devices called mobile phones that had the ability to connect people from distant places without having to travel there. This world was definitely really confusing her with its various inventions.

"Don`t worry." Tatsumi interrupted her line of thoughts. "If I can get used to it, so can you." He smiled at her.

"Thanks." She returned the gesture by smiling on her own.

Just like that, they turned around the left corner of the mansion and came out at the front of the mansion as they continued their way towards the entrance when they saw an opened window on the first floor.

"The others have woken up." Akame noted.

"Looks that way." He agreed with a smile. A smile faded away all of a sudden. "Ah, those lazy..." He shouted out and picked up the pace.

"…." The girl looked in wonder, while following him.

Inside the building, the rest of the youngsters had already gathered in the main living room. The mood was somewhat unsettling as the presence of the two representative of Vali`s team and Ophis was surely leaving mixed feelings in the Occult Research Club`s members. Le Fay was the one that managed to adapt with the group by finding a common language with Issei, Asia and Xenovia, while Kuroka was following Koneko continually, despite the rook`s protests. Yesterday before going to sleep the nekomata sisters had a deep and long conversation in the room they slept. The bishop did as Tastumi suggested and apologized to the white-haired teen, explaining her the reason why she had to kill her master and leave Toujo behind. At the end, both of them reconciled with happy faces and went to bed. Yet, the Gremory devil continued to be wary of the woman, because she didn`t know how to talk to her after that long time. The older sister also had no idea for a way to approach the younger one, so she just continued to breath in Koneko`s neck. The Ouroboros Dragon on other side didn`t bother anyone or was interacted by someone and simply remained silent during the whole time.

Right now, Rias, Ravel and Akeno stood around the opened window and talked between each other, Hyoudou, Quarta, Argento and Le Fay sat on a sofa and watched TV, Gasper played games on a gamepad, Kiba was reading a book, Koneko preferred to eat sweet things, while Kuroka lied down on the floor like a cat next to her sister and Ophis acted as if she wasn`t there at all.

"Is this really alright, Rias?" The youngest of the Phenex family whisper to the group`s leader.

"This is the result of what Tatsumi planned. We must trust him." The said woman replied in a whisper as well.

"It`s not like I don`t trust Tatsumi-sama, but we don`t know anything about those people." The bishop continued to try and find reasonable explanation.

"At one case, that`s true." The other pure-blooded devil agreed. "However, I`ve came to feel that they really hold no ill intentions."

"Then I`m going to put up with it. Only because it`s a decision of Tatsumi-sama." The younger high-class devil declared, still keeping her voice weak.

"Ufufu, Ravel-chan supporting Tatsumi is very cute." Akeno giggled quietly, causing her junior to blush. "I also think this decision was made for the better good." She added, turning towards the nekomata sisters.

"Yes. If it can help Koneko move on, then it`s more than a good choice." Rias returned in agreement. "It really feels like we`re normal people."

Suddenly, the quiet atmosphere was interrupted when one of the doors opened, revealing the two former assassins. Both of them looked all sweaty and warmed up as they entered the premise.

"Good Morning!" They greeted and received a greeting from everyone else in return.

"Hey, Bro, what`s up?" Issei asked his stepbrother being approached by the former.

"Something`s up alright. Shouldn`t you be somewhere else?" The green-eyed teen replied back sarcastically.

"Like where?" The other pawn, however, couldn`t understand the sarcasm or that it was directed at him.

"Like training outside for a start." Tatsumi pointed out fixing his serious gaze on the other brown-haired boy.

Just like that, Issei`s smile vanished within seconds. "Eh? But I unlocked my Balance Breaker already. Besides, we had a very long battle yesterday." He tried to find an excuse.

"Yesterday was for yesterday, today is for today. Don`t slack and get yourselves together." The latter told his fellow family member and grabbed him for the shoulder.

"You got to be kidding me." Issei yelled out, while being dragged towards the entrance.

"Good luck, Issei-senpai." Gasper wished to his senior.

"I was talking to all of you." The green-eyed assassin corrected.

"No way." Valdi cried out in protest.

"No complains. It seems you spent your time lazing around while I was gone." Tatsumi scolded harshly. "That`s why I`m going to work you to the bone. If you refuse, I`ll have Akame eat your meals." He finished, while Akame herself let a droll slid down her chin just by the thought of the great amount of food she could receive.

"She can`t possibly do that." Issei protested.

"She can alright." His stepbrother confirmed his words. "I`m waiting you outside."

"My, my, somebody is fired up for sure." The queen noted, being impressed by her lover`s determination. Although, she knew that he included her as well.

"Geez, it hasn`t been a day since he returned and yet he`s pushing us once again." Rias pointed out.

"But, Rias, you were the one that gave Tatsumi-sama the right to order us around during training." Ravel remained.

"That`s our trainer for you. He`s a real monster." Xenovia commented giving a faint smile.

"Is he always like that, nya?" Kuroka questioned the blue-haired knight.

However, it was the other one that answered her question. "Pretty much, yes." Yuuto said. "Training is the one thing Tatsumi-kun doesn`t allow us to miss. Ever since that accident."

"Accident?" Le Fay curiously asked.

"It happened about mouth and half ago." Asia replied back. "We had a job to capture an alchemist, who was doing some forbidden experiments. Tatsumi-san had work with Azazel-sensei, so we went on without him. However, we messed up a bit by allowing the alchemist to finish his experiment and couldn`t defeat him. In the end, Issei-san defeated him with that technique, but it was after Tatsumi-san came to help us." She explained in summarized version.

"Yeah. After that, Tatsumi scolded us for our lack of preparations and decided to train every single one of us." Quarta finished the story.

"That explains it." The blonde-haired human said giggling.

"That technique?" Kuroka repeated that part in confusion.

"Dress Break… It`s the worst technique." Her sister answered. "A bad side of Issei-senpai." She added with a sigh, thinking about the times she fell victim to it.

"That`s one strange Red Dragon Emperor, nya." The stray devil stated.

"That`s who Issei is." Xenovia said with a smile.

And so, the rest left the living-room and headed to change in their academy gym clothes. In about ten minutes were outside, lined up in a horizontal line in front of Tatsumi and Akame. Kuroka and Le Fay also went having nothing else to do and even Ophis joined with the hope to observe what the current Red Dragon Emperor could accomplish. Ever since she felt the awakening of his Sacred Gear, the founder of Khaos Brigade felt the current host growing up rather differently from the previous ones, which was enough to trigger her otherwise uncatchable interest.

Gathering outside, the Occult Research Club lined up waiting up for Tatsumi to give instructions. Dressed in his Kuoh Academy`s boy track suit, the green-eyed devil narrowed the other devils and screwed up his eyes at sight before him. Out of everyone, only Xenovia and Kiba took their sweet time in changing into gym uniforms. To say at least he feared that things would turn out this way for the couple of days he was absent, but his fears just jumped up at this point.

"We have a match next week. Yet, you`re all slothful I see." A long sigh escaped the former brown-haired assassin`s mouth.

"But you were gone until yesterday, so we didn`t have a training menu." Rias explained calmly.

"You should have taken up for me." The former came with an instant argument, looking at the crimson-ruin princess.

"Are we really that bad?" Gasper dared to ask.

"Yeah. Like we kicked asses yesterday with no problem." Issei protested next. "I defeated Kokabiel one-on-one. Last time I only bruised him."

His stepbrother didn`t say anything at first and simply looked at the brown-eyed young man, most specifically at his eyes. They had that unyielding glint in them. The person known as Hyoudou Issei was becoming more confident in himself and that much Tatsumi had to admit. In fact, while looking at Issei, he could see a fair resemblance with himself right before joining the ranks of Night Raid. It was a time when the country boy had great confidence and believed everything would go just as planned. However, now he knew such confidence could be easily crushed and stepped on. That`s why the green-eyed devil didn`t want to see his fellow pawn going through the same, or anyone else from the household for the matter.

"Fine." Tatsumi finally sighed, while still looking at the Boosted Gear`s host. "Listen, Issei..." He said catching the latter`s attention. "The two of us will have a mock battle. Land a single hit on me and you get a day off. Right here, right now." His stepbrother offered calmly instantly brightening up his face. "…but if I win, you`ll train double today."

"Seriously?" The said boy sweated at the thought.

'**Take this chance, partner.'** The dragon sealed inside him spoke mentally.

'Ddraig?' Issei replied back via telepathy.

'**That boy is thinking of you as equal. He is feeling your resolve and wants to respond to it.'** The Red Dragon Emperor continued. **'Really, I couldn`t ask for a better trainer for my host.'**

Hearing that, Issei blinked twice before nodding and turned towards his stepbrother. "You got it, Bro." He finally answered back.

The others watched the direction of which the event was going to. A quick mock battle between teacher and student. It wasn`t the most special thing that could occur, but still interesting in its own way. Even Ophis thought of this chance to capture what this unusual Red Dragon Emperor can do. Since yesterday, the founder of Khaos Brigade began to observe this current host of the Boosted Gear and indeed the dragon found him really different. The way he acted, the dreams he wished of, the bond he shared with one of the two Heavenly Dragons was telling her that he is unique in his own, like Vali was in his. Yet, her attention was suddenly moved to one of the two other dragon type Sacred Gear users present. Namely Tatsumi. Strange intuition was itching her that there was more to him than she thought at first.

Meanwhile, the two brothers stood across each other just like how they were, without moving at all and prepared to go. Slight tension was formed in the atmosphere as they were just seconds from beginning. Still, the source of the tension could be definite pretty easily. It was Issei. Mock battle or not, the first pawn was feeling slightly nervous. The reason was the other brown-haired boy. It wasn`t a secret to the Occult Research Club that he was yet to put up more of a fight against his teacher.

Swallowing a spittle, Issei put his right leg before the one and stepped on fingers with the left and squatted slightly. "Here I come." He said and bolted forward.

The distance was short, just five meters, allowing the brown-eyed devil to cover it for two seconds. Closing the space between them, he avoided hesitating to the most he could and acted on the best option he had, a straight fist to the face. So he shot his left hand in the form of fist from an acute angle with the hope to finish this before the other side could react. His attack was fast indeed, but unfortunately Tatsumi dodged to the left, while averting right just in time to leave Issei empty handed and passing by. Even so, the latter responded quickly as he stand nailed himself on one place by sliding his left leg forward and twisting his body left. Continuing his assault, the Red Dragon Emperor launched at the opponent again and this time fired a right handed fist as an attack with the hope to end this in the second try. Hope, which was blown to bits when Tatsumi simply swung his left leg from a complete standstill without a delay at the exact same moment his stepbrother entered his range. It`s trajectory was on spot, directly at the other boy`s right side of the head, which resulted in a hit that sent the opponent back crashing on the ground not so far away.

Followed a moment of complete silence, before the green-eyed assassin went next to his friend and stretched a hand. "You were nervous and became readable. Being readable on the battlefield means death." They were harsh words that Issei`s ears had not chance of not hearing. "But you`re moving forward. Good job!" He finished with a smile.

"Bro." His stepbrother utter for a second before taking the offered hand. "Thanks, I`ll remember from now on." He cheered up with a grin.

"Now that was over too soon, nya." Kuroka spoke up back in the group.

"I think it was an interesting match." Le Fay stated with excitement.

"Ise`s attack was good, but I expected no less from our teacher." Xenovia said proudly.

"Well, Hyoudou Issei has improved, but in the end it was Tatsumi-sama who he had as an opponent." Ravel commented confidently.

"Ravel-san doesn`t change." Yuuto whispered with a chuckle between Xenovia and Koneko.

"I wonder about that." Akeno interrupted smiling. "The person of her praises has changed though."

Hearing that, Rias chuckled too. "Yeah. Back then she kept praising Riser all the time, but now."

"Issei-san did very well too." Asia said, showing her support for her first friend and love ever.

"He was very amazing how he ran forward and attacked." Gasper couldn`t help but get impressed too.

"That`s right. Ise has been working very hard lately." Rias agreed with a warm smile. Just watching her precious pawn growing made her more than happy. At this point, she believed in Issei with every part of her body and heart. Ever since she saw him under the opened window of the Occult Research Club she knew that he was going to play a very important role in her life, just like it turned out. Issei became the only man in the pure-blooded devil`s heart and as such no one else could replace him. That she knew for sure.

Meanwhile, Akame was also sharing the thought about Issei. Despite knowing him for only few days, the red-eyed assassin saw the potential stored inside the boy. He was falling, but learning from his failures and that alone was a valid proof of his growth. However, while the rest were commenting on that boy`s improvement in time, for her there was someone else on her mind. That person was Tatsumi. This morning`s friendly spar between them and now this mock battle helped her see or rather feel something. Tatsumi was stronger, a lot stronger than last time she saw him. He had continued training without a stop and was sure to have survived more life and death battles. All that while remembering the teachings that she and everyone else in Night Raid had given to him and now was completely able to understand and use them. Even more, being able to give them to someone else. And for Akame, seeing that made her truly happy. Just like this she continued to stare at her green-eyed friend, who had started turning into someone special.

All of a sudden, her line of thoughts and everyone`s conversation was interrupted when Issei and Tatsumi approached them.

"Man, I couldn`t even see it coming." The first pawn complained, scratching the back of his head.

"Still you did very well. I`m proud of you." Rias replied back with a comfortable smile.

"Thanks, President!" Issei thanked, while returning the smile.

"Yeah. He`s definitely better from when we started. Mostly in confidence that is." The other brown-haired devil stated. "What do you think Akame?"

The said girl turned towards the boy in question. "He`s good. A bit unexperienced, but good." She commented in overall. "I think that with our training he`ll become a lot better and much sooner."

"Does that mean?" Xenovia questioned in surprise.

"Yes. Tatsumi and I agreed to train you together." The red-eyed assassin explained. "I`ll be training Yuuto and Xenovia more. You`re the same type weapon wielders after all."

"Really?" The blonde-haired knight evoked in surprise. "Thank you very much, Akame-san. I`m looking forward to it." He finished by bowing.

"Me too. This`ll be interesting." The former exorcists said with excited looking face.

"Alright." Issei shouted cheerfully. "We`ll be as good as ready for the match."

"Let`s make it." His stepbrother said back. "But for now…" He started as his eyes went through the other devils. "Start training. I and Akame will go eat something. Oh, and Issei. Today you`re training until seven."

"No way." Issei cried out after the two former Night Raid members, who were going straight for the mansion, leaving the rest outside.

"Come on, Issei-senpai. I`ll train with you." Koneko said with a smile.

Everyone inside of the Occult Research Club looked like they were ready and enthusiastic about it. All, except for Akeno. The queen had a rather sad look at her face and kept on looking at the disappearing Tatsumi. The said boy, himself, noticed that while turning around the corner as he let a worried look cross his face for a moment.

The rest of the day rolled up unnoticeable as most of the time was spent training in which the devils from the Gremory household were worked out to the bone by Tatsumi and Akame together. Many were feeling too sober including Koneko and Xenovia despite their great durability, while others like Rias were released easily for having to make a strategy for the incoming match. Asia also slipped out to go and make dinner. Kiba`s hands were numb thanks to the countless spars he had with the red-eyed girl, who`s arm strength turned out to be something exceptional for a representative of the soft gender. He was definitely faster, but the latter`s agility stood for undefeatable defense.

And so it became eight o`clock in the evening. Issei finally finished practicing for today and went for a cold, refreshing shower. After that, he returned to his room and lied down back on his bed to rest, while waiting to be called for dinner. It was a great chance to enjoy a moment to himself or so he thought, until a knock was heard on the door and surprisingly it turned out to be Tatsumi. At first, the brown-eyed teen had the idea that it will be regarding training, so he hoped for nothing interesting. However, his interest raised up drastically just by hearing the topic, which was…

"Are you serious?" Issei asked for the third time. He had this excited look on his face.

"You see me laughing?" The other devil returned sarcastically. "Will you help me or not?"

"Help? Like how?" His stepbrother obviously had no clue how to do it.

"I`m hoping you tell me that." The former assassin sighed heavily.

"Even if you say that. It`s a bit sudd-" The other second-year student replied back before getting interrupted by the sound of the door opening only for the household`s master to enter inside.

"Ise, dinner is almost ready." Rias said walking in. "Oh, Tatsumi, you were here too?" She added seeing the other pawn.

"Hey, President! Bro was asking me for help about something." Issei explained shortly when he heard his brother literally face-palming himself.

"Does the entire world need to know?" The green-eyed teen shouted out.

"What is it about?" The pure-blooded devil questioned, while closing the door. Seeing it was already done fact, Tatsumi sighed again and quickly explained the situation to the young woman. "To be actually something like that, I`m surprised." She stated with a chuckle.

"I get it already. I suck at that." Tatsumi got sulky by the regard.

"No, it`s just I thought Akeno would try to do it first. Yet, that`s the way it should be." Rias calmed the tension. "So you want to take her to a date, but don`t know what to do?"

"Yeah." Came a short answer from the green-eyed boy

"But how come you don`t know about that?" Issei asked next.

"Shut up. I`m a former assassin, not a marriage consultant." His stepbrother reasoned quickly.

"That`s it." Their attention was brought by the crimson-haired woman. "We`ll make a double date. That way we can help you as well as have some fun ourselves."

"With whom and whom?" Her first pawn interrupted curiously.

"Akeno and Tatsumi together with you and me of course. I would love to go out on a date with you, Ise." She said, finishing with a wink towards her precious servant. After that, she turned towards the other teen. "Be sure to invite Akeno out properly tonight. We`ll do it the day after tomorrow and go to Okayama the four of us."

'Seriously? A date with the President. Is luck finally shinning down on me?' Issei thought to himself, while already thinking about it.

Tatsumi thought of arguing at first, but decided to do as suggested. His life before could offer him a lot of things, but not a chance to go on date. Sure he liked Sayo when he was little, but that was just unanswered love as the latter didn`t knew about those feelings. Then there were those times when he went to the city a couple of times with Mine and Leone. Still, both experience weren`t close to being a date. With the pink-haired teen, he was dragged around shops like a harrow for clothes. With Leone he always ended up getting chased by people whom his blonde comrade owned money. However, he had both the chance to do so and a girl to go out with. Although, he and Akeno weren`t an official couple, the former member of Night Raid admitted to Himejima that he felt love for her and the latter did the same too. Even so, they were yet to do something like a couple, from where it came the assassin`s unexperienced in this kind of thing.

"Fine." Tatsumi finally agreed and headed towards the room`s entrance. "Thank you!" He thanked shooting a small smile at his friends and left.

"Fufu, this looks like it`ll be interesting." The crimson-haired woman giggled. "Don`t you agree, Ise?"

"Yes." The latter replied back loudly. "If the President wants it, I`ll gladly take her on a date."

"That`s so nice of you." She said with a smile as she tracing her right hand`s forefinger on his face just to stop on his chin. "Want me to give you my virginity as a reward?"

Hearing that, the brown-haired boy blinked once, but still didn`t hesitate to answer. "Yes."

"Geez… you may be an honest boy with perverted thoughts, but I like the Ise he is." Rias said playfully.

After that the two left the premise as well and headed for the kitchen to have dinner. Next, everyone went to their rooms or rather to the ones they stayed at. Tatsumi invited Akeno to his room where they sat on the bed and talked to each other. The boy was still feeling uncertain and had his doubts here and there, but knew better to act while having this chance. After all, letting chances like this slip by was why he regretted many things as there many of opportunity to tell his childhood friend, Sayo, how he felt and in the end it was those unshared feelings that hang on his chest even now. It was a cruel lesson, the teen remembered clearly.

Currently, both he and Akeno were still seating on the bed and looking at each other, or at least were trying to. Red cheeked face, the fight not to screw up was slowly eating up on the young man.

"So what do you want to talk about, Tatsumi?" The queen asked with a curious expression.

"Um, Akeno…" He started up. "I know I haven`t done anything for you. I`ve not been taking this serious. I noticed that, but didn`t know how to act, so… " Followed a moment of pause in which Hyoudou swallowed to clear his throat. "So I want to make up, by going on a date with you. Will you go out with me?" He said loudly. "Although, it would be a double one between you and me with Issei and the President."

Himejima blinked couple of times at what she heard and then all of a sudden reached out for the boy and wrapped her hands behind his neck quickly shoving his face in her breasts, while squeezing him tightly. "Yes, I will." She said with a joyful voice and looking face. It took her few more seconds to satisfy herself and let the brown-haired boy from her grip, who lost balance at first and felt down on the bed.

'I thought I would die.' He spoke up mentally accompanied by a sigh. After that, the two of them went to bed without any more delay and fell asleep really soon.

"Thanks, Tatsumi." Akeno thanked, giving her senior a quick kiss on the lips and pulled back. "It makes really happy."

"It`s nothing." He replied back. "Instead, I`m sorry it won`t be just the two of us. That was my intention, but the President offered it as a help."

"Don`t worry. I can get used to it fast." The queen reassured with a normal smile. One that turned devilish out of nowhere. "So…" She started taking her night-gown, revealing her impressive body in the open space. "Shall we go to sleep? I feel tired cause you trained me a lot." She continued pressing herself on top of the other devil, while pulling the blanket on top of them.

"A-Alright, but…" The green-eyed teen said embarrassed, feeling his cheeks getting red again. "Do you have to take your clothes off?"

"Ufufu, I learned that from the President and Asia-chan. They told me it gets guys excited. I realized they`re right." She teased further before laying herself down on top of him. The latter didn`t say anything and just let out a sigh and slowly fell asleep along his senior.

Just like that, time rolled up and so it came the day of the double date. The four people in question woke up early, had breakfast and after that went to prepare themselves for the event. Rias and Akeno used the chance to take a bath first, while the Hyoudou brothers, having done that yesterday, stayed at the kitchen talking to the others. The heiress to the Gremory family told the rest that the four of them will be going to the city and will probably come back somewhere before sunset. Nearing the appointed time, Tatsumi and Issei headed for the passage way to the mansion`s entrance where they began to wait for the two third-year students to show up.

Leaning against one of the walls and hands behind his head, Issei stared at the ceiling. Today he wore a purple long-sleeved shirt over black neck-piece T-Shirt and few buttons going down till his chest area. Below he had dark-blue jeans tied by a black belt, black anklets and dark-blue shoes. As much as he looked accustomed to it, he still found dressing up all too well kind of troublesome. And while he appeared to be concerned about his clothing, his stepbrother felt he was all more out of it. His attire for the day consisted of green collar T-Shirt with yellow edge around the neck and sleeves. Continuing, he had black shorts with zipper, tied by a gray belt and finally black anklets and black shoes. Even after being in this outfit for half an hour, he still couldn`t get used to it.

"A date, huh?" The green-eyed teen muttered quietly.

"You said something?" His stepbrother questioned averting his gaze from the ceiling.

"Nothing." Tatsumi replied back casually. "In any case this isn`t my color after all." He added, looking at his T-Shirt. 'Lubba`d fit with it better.'

"Nah, you look good. Anyway, thanks to you I`m going to have a date with the President. You have my respect, Bro." Issei shouted out cheerfully.

"Or you`re just skipping training using it." The former assassin sighed in disappointment, to which the other boy laughed while scratching the back of his head. "Deny it at least, damn it." He scolded his fellow classmate.

"We`re sorry to keep you waiting." Suddenly, a voice echoed from the bottom of the passage way, immediately earning the two teens` attention when the two young women appeared before them. As soon as the brothers spotted them they felt stunned at the sight.

Rias wore a white summer dress with decorative buttons with her dress opened around her breasts and a red ribbon tied between them, finished by matching white sandals. Akeno was wearing a purple summer dress with short sleeves and closed neck-line added by a pink ribbon between it and finished by black sandals. She also had a silver heart-shaped amulet hanging on her neck. However, her most distinctive part was her hair, which was let down without the usual ribbon holding it.

The Hyoudou brothers looked in a awe for the first moment before managing to regain their composure as Issei dared to be the first to reply.

"You look so cute. The best." He commented happily.

"Thank you, Ise." Rias thanked with a smile.

"Yeah. You`re really beautiful." Tatsumi quickly followed confidently just as her turned his attention entirely on Akeno. "You let your hair down?"

"Well, I know you like it this way. I want us to enjoy this, since it`s my first time." The black-haired woman replied with a smile, while blushing.

"T-That`s because I think it suits you more." The green-eyed boy said with a slight blush as well.

Hearing that, Himejima felt her heart jump up. "Thank you, Tatsumi!" She smiled almost like a child.

"You two also look fantastic I`d say. Really handsome." Rias commented on the boys` appearance impressed.

"Yes, they`re cute, aren`t they?" The violet-eyed teen embarrassed the two brothers.

"So where shall we go first?" Issei asked curiously.

"First, let`s go through the city. We may find something interesting." The household`s master suggested.

"Okay." The rest responded at the same time before leaving the mansion and heading down the cliff towards the city where they were going to have their double date.

To be continued in chapter 20 – _'Like normal people (part 2)'_

**A/N: Hey there, everyone! I`m finally here updating a new chapter of 'Second Life'. First, I want to say I`m sorry it took me so long and I won`t blame any of you if you dropped the story because of that. However, I`m currently studying abroad in Europe from the period of 4****th**** of September this year until 29****th**** of January 2017. That`s why I don`t have much of time to work on my story and have been able to do only bits from time to time. Thus, the delayed update. Please bear with it as it will most probably like that until I get home in Bulgaria.**

**About the chapter now. In this chapter I tried to make a connection between the previous ARC and this new one, while setting things at a slow pace and having a bit more fillers. Well, it turned out that the chapter will become too long again, so I decided to split in two parts: First, the aftermath of the battle with Diodora and his servants with Khaos Brigade. Second, a double date between Tatsumi and Akeno and Issei and Rias, plus some appearance and a hint about next chapters.**

**Also, I must say: If there is some readers, who are from Okayama or have been there before, don`t expect me to fill the city like it is. It`s a fanfic after all. XD Although, I think that goes without saying it.**

**Once again, I`m sorry for the late update. I`ll try to finish next chapter in week or two, since there is already some written on it. But as for after that, it may take another while before the chapter after chapter 20.**

**Oh, and before I go. About guest reviews: Please don`t ask questions about to story to which you expect answer that I cannot give, because of not being able to reply guest reviews. I`m sorry, but I don`t have the time to specifically answer them in my updates.**

**Thank you for reading my work. I hope you like it!**

**See ya! : )**

**Kris**


	20. Chapter 20

**PLEASE READ! Before the chapter, I decided to let you know: From this chapter forward flashback will be market with '(' and ')'. Supposedly '(' for the start and ')' for the end. Dreams will be market with '[' and ']' where '[' will mark the beginning and ']' is going to mean the end. I might fix it for the past chapters in the future. So with that said, hope you enjoy the read.**

Chapter 20 – _**Like normal people (part 2)**_

The day was continuing in its period between morning and noon as the four devils, Tatsumi, Issei, Rias and Akeno were just entering the city of Okayama to begin their double date. The instant they come across the first crossroad they took a left turn and started walking alongside the beach, while talking between each other.

"So where are we heading first?" Issei asked curious.

"That`s right, Tatsumi. Where are you going to take us first?" Rias playfully teased the said teen.

"Eh… Why me?" The green-eyed boy snapped back.

"Because you`re the one that led things this way. Take responsibility." The crimson-haired woman replied.

"Sure, sure." The former assassin gave up and looked forward. "I think the dolphinarium is worth checking. How about you?"

"That sounds interesting." Akeno cheered at the suggestion, while the other two nodded in agreement. "By the way, is it okay to leave Tatsumi plan all the date?" She turned towards her fellow third-year student.

"It`s fine. This is punishment for overworking us during training." Rias teased once again, making Issei snicker.

"What? You`re making me like I`m obsessively enjoying myself." The said boy answered.

"But you are… A lot." His stepbrother commented.

"I`m only doing it for your own good." Tatsumi explained, while his eyes hardened when a sudden image gleamed through his mind. An image of Night Raid. "And for everyone else." The tone of his voice sadden.

Noticing it, Himejima patted him on this head. "And you`re doing it right and always have. That`s why don`t be down and enjoy yourself today. Let`s enjoy this moment together." She finished with a smile.

Hearing this, the former assassin startled aback, his eyes widened. He was being praised. No, not only that. He was being appreciated and praised for it. It sounded so simple, but to him it was like his life was filled with happiness, filled with reason, completed. He was liking this, even more, loving it. This feeling alone was making him proud, useful and most of that, happy. It was this feeling that pushed his life in motion with the desire to help his village and coming back to it with a smile on his face and the feeling of being complete. A desire, a decision, that made him live his home and set on a journey, which met him with a great group of people known as Night Raid. It was a group that became his _home_, the _place_ where he belonged to. There he was accepted, appreciated and praised and he felt loved. Now this group was gone and deep inside the teen knew that he won`t find a second place like that. It was true, but there was the Gremory household. It wasn`t like Night Raid, but it didn`t need to be. To Tatsumi that was more than enough. In it, he found more great friends, fell in love again and saw a reason for living.

In the same time, silence was shortly running over the area as the other three devils stopped as well and were looking at their friend with wonder. It was rare for them to see the green-eyed boy like that and that`s why they understood it that it must have to do something with his life in the previous world. A life of which they knew almost nothing about.

"Tatsumi?" Akeno called out hesitatingly.

"Sorry, I spaced out." The said teen replied. "Yeah. Let`s do it together." He smiled innocently and grabbed the queen`s right hand and led the way.

Akeno herself, blushed at the big smile Tatsumi just gave her. It was something third-year student saw her junior do very rarely. In fact, this one smile felt like something different as her heart jumped up from inside her. Rias and Issei on the other hand, looked after the couple for a seconds before the young woman wrapped her right arm around the boy`s left one and pressed herself to his side.

"We`re going too, Ise." She said playfully.

"Yes!" Her pawn replied back the instant as the two of them followed after their friend`s tracks.

About twenty minutes later, the four youngsters reached the dolphinarium and bought tickets. Right now, they were just taking their sits at the stands in a big open garden with a 20 meters long pool in the center of it. The other sits slowly got filled by people, until all spots were taken and every single eye stared at the water where the dolphin swam in the bottom of it.

Everything became silent for a moment before a woman around the mid-twenties entered the stage and went next to the pool. She had matching short brown hair and brown eyes and wore a blue tank swimsuit with a yellow zipper like the one the swimmers use in their races.

"**Welcome everyone to our show! The whole team hopes you all enjoy our program!"** She said with a microphone as her voice died out through the entire garden. The instant it faded away, multiple sounds of clapping from the spectators followed it, including the four Occult Research Club members. **"Now, the show begins!"**

As if just rehearsed the moment she announced that, three dolphins jumped out of the water vertically and then dove back in it. Seconds later their fins surfaced above the water and started moving in a circling motion. Applauds erupted in almost complete sync as that of the demonstration, this time joined by that of the woman leading the show. With that done, the woman took three small fishes from a bucket next to her and threw them at the water as a sign of gratitude and reward for the mammals, who raised their heads over the water and caught the food with their mouths and disappeared under the pool`s surface to eat it.

Meanwhile, the crowd was watching with patience and interest to see what will happen next. Among them, the devils were having a good time so far and that was shown by the excited looks on their faces. Just before the show began, it became clear that it was the first time each of them visited such an event in their lives, which made even more interesting and something to look through the whole of it to the very end.

All of a sudden, their attention was caught by the trainer woman, who picked up a hoop and held it over the water. Few seconds later one of the dolphins launched itself from the water few couple of meters before the object and passed right through it and splashed back in the liquid surface. This caused the crowd to applaud again, just to be interrupted when another one did the same and then the last one. The spectators went in astonishment from the demonstrated trick. The woman at the pool pulled back the hoop and took three more fishes, which she threw towards the water again, but this time higher. Even so, the mammals didn`t have any difficulties in catching it again by jumping out of the water, grabbing it without any problems and splashed back backwards.

"This is awesome." Issei commented, while clapping. "I`ve heard that dolphins are really smart, but seeing it with my eyes is completely different."

"I think so too. Seeing it yourself is much better." Akeno agreed with her junior.

"It`s fascinating indeed. That trainer is good too." Rias stated her impressed thoughts.

"This is like taming danger beasts." Tatsumi said, while remembering the creatures of his previous world. "At least here can be fun."

"Really? You could do it there too? What kind of creatures could you train? And why not? Was it boring?" His stepbrother showered him with questions.

"Ise, you`re asking too much at once." The crimson-haired woman remarked on that.

Their attention was caught by a sigh from Tatsumi. "It`s okay. I did brought this up myself." He said and stopped for a second. "It was possible. There was that one time we rode an air manta." He paused again as memories of how he and his group used an the said creature to retreat to the mountains and how great it was. "Darn, I really wanted to ride on it more." He said disappointed.

"That`s awesome!" His fellow classmate exclaimed. "What happened to it?"

"It got shoot down in action." Tatsumi replied back.

"Oh my, poor thing." Akeno said with a pity.

Their conversation was interrupted when the crowd around became excited drastically. Looking towards the center of the garden, the four devils saw the trainer holding the same hoop from earlier and held it above the water, while inside it one of the dolphins was balancing a beach ball on its muzzle without any trouble and by pushing itself up, shot the object right through the hoop and back at the woman.

Next, the woman threw to another dolphin, which caught it with the tip of its mouth and repeated what the previous one did with the same precision. The spectators were bursting it applauds one after another, which made the mammals excited as well as they started popping above the water surface more frequently. Just like that, the show continued at its best as the trainer and the dolphins demonstrated even more incredible things, which fascinated the people again and again, until it finally ended fifteen minutes later.

Getting out of the garden and dolphinarium, the devils headed towards the center of the city for the rest of their double day. Currently, they were passing by a big avenue, surrounded by two-three storey buildings on both horizontal sides. Buildings in which the first floor of many of them were replaced by all kind of shops. From cafés and groceries to libraries, florist and dress shops. The pleasant atmosphere was completed by planted threes on every second meter on both sidewalks and couple of wooden benches for people to seat on. On top of that, the beautiful clean sky and the sun shining down was making so breathtaking that Tatsumi didn`t notice when the Akeno and Rias stopped by a shop window and started starring at the content on display.

"Bro." Issei`s voice broke him out of his current state. The green-eyed teen looked at his stepbrother when he saw the two young women entering the same shop.

"Tatsumi, we`re checking this shop. Come on." The club`s president said, while opening the door.

The former assassin gave a quick a look through the window when he saw clothes behind it. 'This kind of shop of all things.' He cursed to himself as memories of him going shopping with a certain pink-haired sniper rushed through his mind. 'Ah, those were tough times.' He said painfully to himself as he followed his friends into the shop.

Entering inside, the youngsters stumbled on a big premise as around five single rooms. Starting from the door there was a pathway that led further in the shop, until it split in two different directions. One of them directed the customers to a part with clothing for men, while the other one showed the way to the one with clothes for women. The articles varied in many kinds from T-shirts, shirts, jeans jackets for the men, to dresses, skirts and underwear for the female customers.

Seeing this division, the group separated in boys and girls as the two third-year students started checking up clothes with interested. However, such wasn`t the case with the brothers. Tatsumi and Issei simply talked to each other, while taking a look on some clothes from time to time. While the former member of Nigh Raid was looking around the store, his friend got silent all of a sudden as a sad look appeared on his face and he fixed his eyes on the floor.

"What`s up?" Tatsumi asked upon noticing.

"N-Nothing." The other boy lied, forcing a smile on his face. Just now, this double date had reminded him of his first date ever with Raynare or Amano Yuuma as she introduced herself before him to ask him to go out with her. At that time, that was a dream come true for the human boy named Hyoudou Issei, who was so desperately wanting a girlfriend. A dream that was shattered in millions of pieces when the said girl revealed it to be only an act, a lie, so she can get close to him and kill him. All of that, because of his Sacred Gear. Even now, he still remembered this accident, this woman, this nightmare that would come to haunt him occasionally. Lost in thought, the teen saddened more as he clenched his right hand in a fists, while it quietly shook from the emotions dwelling inside him.

"Earth to Issei?" Tatsumi`s voice broke him out of his thoughts again, but this time it was accompanied by weak hit on the head. Feeling the hit and hearing his stepbrother speaking to him, Issei lifted his head up.

"Sorry, I was thinking about…" He started to apologize, but stopped for a second before finishing. "…something I`ve to do late-."

"Stop it!" Tatsumi cut him off harshly. "Don`t lie. Most of all, don`t lie to yourself!" Issei`s eyes snapped open at those words. It was like he was waking up from a bad dream. It was the feeling that someone pulled him out of it forcibly in order to save him from a pitch black darkness. "The moment you do that is the moment you break. I don`t want to see that happen to you. Clear?" The former assassin almost demanded, to which the other teen simply nodded in return. Seeing it, he continued. "Everyone has their bad memories. You, me, Akame, Akeno and the others. We`re all like that. It`s fine if you don`t want to talk about it, but _never_ do that again. Got it?" Another nod was given from latter. "I`m here if you want to talk. So pull yourself together!"

"Sorry!" Issei finally spoke. "But seriously, how many times have you hit me already?"

Tatsumi blinked in surprise for a second. Just now, what Issei said sounded exactly like that time and the green-eyed teen remembered it all too well. _'I`m sorry, Bro. How many times have you hit me?' _His own voice echoed through. _'Well, consider it a tough love. Love. Love.' _Bulat teased. Simply recalling this brought a slight pain to Tatsumi`s heart. To him, that was a very treasured memory and he would be forever proud he had it. Pushing it aside, the green-eyed teen smiled at the other one.

"I`m the big brother, ain`t I?" Tatsumi said with confidence. "You can count on me no matter what."

"Y-Yeah!" Issei finally cheered up.

"That`s the spirit." The former assassin replied back when he paid attention to his surroundings.

The people around them were looking quite surprised at the two boys` conversation just now. They were so entrance that customers stopped their shopping and even the staff members broke their working process. All to listen to the brother speaking to each other.

"Hey, did you hear that?" A woman around the late twenties asked another one next to her, who was somewhere of the same age as her. "To what the boy with the green eyes said?"

"Yeah. I can`t believe I heard it from such a young person." The other returned in astonishment.

"Me neither. But somehow, he sounded mature. Even my husband doesn`t have thinking like that.' The former added an example.

"Plus he`s quite handsome. If he was like ten years older, he would have been totally my type." The other one pointed out.

"But you saw the two girls that came with them. I bet one has to be his girlfriend." The previous woman remarked.

"That`s why I said if, didn`t I?" The latter reasoned.

Just like the two women, other people commented on that topic and while some continued to do so, others simply stopped and returned to what they were doing before. In that time, the two second-year students were observing and listening to effect of their own little conversation.

"Bro, you`re really attracting attention too much." Issei noted. "It gets on my nerves for some reason." He added as he had heard the two women talking to each other, especially the _'would have been totally my type'_ part.

Hearing that, Tatsumi let out a sigh. "Between you and Lubo, I just don`t know who`s harder to deal with."

"Lubo?" The other devil asked curiously. However, it was absolutely ignored by the former.

"Come on! The girls want us to go to the fitting-rooms." The green-eyed teen said, to which Issei looked up that way just to see Rias and Akeno standing in front of the small dressing-boxes.

Following the pathway, the two boys reached the place and as soon as that happened, their halves went in and started changing. Not long after that, the curtains were pulled with Akeno coming out first. The outfit she tried on consisted of a white sleeveless top opened around the neck and a short blue checked circle skirt, finished by her own shoes.

Tatsumi exclaimed with surprise. Maybe it was because today was the first time he actually cared for the attire of girl or simply because it was a person he had feelings for. And although, it didn`t matter, he was still speechless of what to say.

"Staring at me like that, it`s embarrassing." The black-haired girl said, while blushing.

"Sorry." Her boyfriend apologized quickly. "You look really cute with that. It suits you." He complimented, feeling his heart throb even quicker than his reply.

"Thank you!" The young woman smiled at him.

Meanwhile, Issei was trying his best no to stare at the queen when a someone`s hand grabbed him and literally turned him around. Taking a look, he found that it belonged to Rias, who had gotten out of the dressing box. She wore a black short-sleeved top opened at the shoulders, showing off more skin and slight piece of her cleavage. The attire was continued by black short-circle skirt and finally her sandals.

"What do you think, Ise?" She asked turning fully around to show herself.

"It`s super cute. The best!" The latter replied with excitement.

"I`m glad you like it." Rias smiled at him.

Just like that, their shopping continued as both girls tried couple more outfits as they liked one, two and decided to buy them. Ten minutes later, they finished done with their part and were currently at the men` side of the shop, looking something for the boys, who tried to keep interest by checking here and there.

"Ise, try this on." The crimson-haired woman suggested, while passing a blue long-sleeved shirt with lighter blue vertical strips to the said teen.

"Okay." Hyoudou agreed, taking the cloth in his hand.

"As I thought, it fits you perfectly." The pure-blooded devil stated upon looking at the result. "It`s fine wearing your school shirt, but you need to have more than one or two." She explained.

"I think you look good, Issei-kun." Himejima supported her fellow classmate and best friend.

"Thanks." Issei thanked. "If you both think so, then I`ll take it." He declared.

The other boy, on other hand, only looked around as he felt like yawning and put a hand on his mouth. He was fine with sharing his opinion for the girls` shopping, but searching for him was different story. Hoping this would end soon, he made a full turn check around when his eyes stopped on specific cloth. It was a white jacket with a neck-piece and black horizontal line going all around at the chest area. It kind of reminded him of his own white assassin jacket he used to wear back in his world after joining Night Raid. It wasn`t the same, but still pretty similar to it. Catching his attention, Tatsumi neared the jacket and picked up the hanger and looked at it.

"What`s this?" Issei questioned as he came next to him, shortly followed by the girls.

"Do you like this jacket?" Akeno asked too, seeing the attention the boy was paying to it.

"Honestly, I don`t know." The green-eyed teen answered, surprising the other three youngsters. "But it resembles one I had when I was in Night Raid." He said as he continued to sink in this nostalgic feeling. "I`ll buy this." He finally declared and almost darted off to the cash-desk.

"Wait, you don`t know if it`s the right size or not." Rias called out, stopping the former assassin in his tracks. Hearing that, he bowed his head down and turned to head for the fitting-rooms.

Not long after that, the four finally came out of the shop and continued their way. Bags could be seen in Rias, Akeno and Issei`s hands as they were quite satisfied with the outcome of it. This, however, wasn`t the case with Tatsumi, who for the first time in his life felt disappointing after shopping. The jacket he liked, turned out a bit smaller. 'Is this how Mine felt when coming back empty handed?' He thought to himself, while walking.

"Cheer up." Rias interrupted his line of thoughts. "There`s a photo booth ahead. Let`s take a picture."

"Alright!" Tatsumi replied back.

Just like that, they reached a photo-shop, outside of which there was photo booth. Paying the price, all four of them went in to take a picture. After that, they decided to do it in pairs as Issei and Rias went first, then Tatsumi and Akeno, then they did it on boys and girls. Just finishing that, they gathered outside of the booth to think of where to go next.

"Okay, how about we go to some café next?" The club`s president suggested.

"Oh, I know." Issei nearly jumped like a child. "Back at the dolphinarium I heard some people talking about a very good café that opened up recently. They said it`s very good and is visited by lot of people. Logue café."

"That`s good and all, but where exactly in the city is it?" His stepbrother asked.

"About that… I forgot to ask." The other boy shrugged his shoulders, causing the two girls to giggle.

"Figures." The green-eyed teen said disappointed. "Guess we have to ask around."

"Actually, there`s no need for that." Rias interrupted. "In my free time yesterday I looked up all places we could check and marked them on the map. This café too."

"Woah! As expected of our President. You`re always prepared. Amazing!" Issei burst out in compliments.

"The President as always loves planning things ahead." Akeno commented with a chuckle.

"I feel like my planning somehow didn`t matter at all." Tatsumi muttered in disappointment.

"Now, don`t be like this. You`re doing really good." The pure-blooded devil reassured him. "Should we get going then?" She suggested and led the way, instantly followed by the other three Occult Research Club members.

"What the others are doing I wonder?" Issei asked, while walking.

"I just hope Ophis and those two aren`t up to no good." Rias stated hopefully. "I still can`t trust them completely."

"No worries. Akame is there after all." The other boy replied. "In the past, she always stayed at the base during the day. So she`s pretty good at that."

"If you say so, then that`s good." The crimson-haired woman returned back to the topic as the four of them continued to walk slowly through the city.

About ten minutes later, the four devils finally reached Logue café all thanks to Rias`s good preparation for the day. The café was situated on the first floor of small two-storey brick house with a triangle roof, chimney, few windows and a piazza that was covered by a white hanging. Downstairs the café had one big window starting just quarter meter from to the ground and reaching almost all the way to the balcony above. The building entrance was a light brown wooden door, which was currently open. Outside of the building there were three small rounds tables and four wooden chairs around each.

Fortunately for the group, all three of the tables were free, so they took the liberty of choosing the one furthest to the left, not so close to the door like the other two. Tatsumi and Akeno sat with their bags against the door, while Issei and Rias on the opposite side.

"The place sure is coaly." Issei commented, sitting on the chair.

"Certainly. It`s not so big and can`t become too crowded. I like that." Rias stated her opinion as well.

"Whoever owns this place must live here." Akeno said, while looking at the house. "I guess it must be nice."

Hearing that, the crimson-haired woman couldn`t help but smile at the other three. "So what do you think of today so far?"

"Incredible. I`m having so much fun." Issei exclaimed in excitement.

"Yeah. It`s going great." Tatsumi agreed.

"It`s wonderful." Himejima added and then turned towards Tatsumi. "I`m happy you invited me." She smiled at him.

"S-Sure. I`m also glad I asked you out." The latter replied back.

"By the way, thanks for buying that shirt Bro. I forgot my money in the mansion." Issei thanked.

"Don`t mention it." His stepbrother returned indifferently. "Though, I still feel bad for using the money dad gave me. I should really look for a job."

"You haven`t given up on that yet?" Rias called out in disagreement. "I told you can`t do that, didn`t I?"

Hearing her protest, Tatsumi was suddenly reminded of one month ago when he shared that he wanted to start a job to make some money, but Rias stopped him by saying that he couldn`t or rather must not do that, since he is going to school and that it would reflect on his grades. Back then, they left it at that and both forgot about talking about it.

"And I told you I can handle it." The green-eyed teen defended. "It will be a part-time anyway."

"That won`t do. Tatsumi, you`re attending school. If your grades drop you won`t find a good college or even a job." The pure-blooded devil continued to reason.

"A normal job is fine with me." The former assassin said back.

Meanwhile, the other two devils were looking at the little quarrel in front of them and didn`t dare to interfere at all.

"My, my, they`re going at it again." Akeno giggled.

"And just when they had forgotten about it." Issei complained.

"I`m sorry for the wait." A voice interrupted, earning the attention of the devils. "Are you ready wit-" A moment of silence. "Wait, I`m not seeing things, am I?"

The four turned towards the source of the voice when they spotted a young girl around the same age as Tatsumi and Issei with brown hair, tied in plait and brown eyes with spectacle-type glasses. She wore a black and white café maid-like uniform.

"Kiriyuu!" Issei called out in surprise, recognizing the person as Kiriyuu Aika, his and Tatsumi`s classmate.

"Hey! Fancy meeting you here." Tatsumi greeted.

"If isn`t the Hyoudou brothers! You`re together with Rias-senpai and Akeno-senpai?" Aika returned curiously.

"Hello, Aika-chan!" Akeno greeted next.

"Are you working here?" Rias asked with interest.

"Oh, just for the summer. My grandma is friend with the owner. The other waitress is away for the summer. So grandma said to the owner I could work for the summer. So here I am. Of course, I`m getting some money too." The younger girl explained.

"That`s so good of you." Rias complimented.

'You just said the opposite to me, though.' Tatsumi complained to himself.

In that time, his stepbrother was looking at their classmate. "So that`s a maid uniform?"

"What is it, Issei?" Aika exclaimed. "Could you`ve perhaps taken a liking to maids? Should I tell Asia to wear one?" She joked.

"Don`t give Asia weird ideas!" The latter exploded in protest, causing his seniors to giggle at his reaction.

"Come on! I know you`ll like it." She teased playfully. "So what`re you four doing here?" Kiriyuu asked their presence here as a wide smirk grew on her face. "Is this by any chance a double date?" The boys didn`t say anything, but the two young women nodded cheerfully. "Wow! Look at you go, Hyoudou brothers." She continued. "Just wait the others at school to find out. Especially Matsuda and Motohama."

"You don`t have to tell them that!" Issei argued, understanding what his classmate was implying.

"You`re not fun." Aika muttered in disappointment. "Your brother looks like he doesn`t mind." She said, referring to Tatsumi.

"Not really." The said teen replied. "If I want them know I`ll tell that myself."

"Okay, okay." Their female second-year student agreed. "So what would you want to order?"

"Aika-chan!" Another voice called out to the human girl. "Your shift is ending soon. You can go change and leave now."

"Alright, manager. Just let me take this last order." The latter replied back.

"Don`t worry. I`ll do that for you. Today there aren`t many people coming and I can manage on my own. Go on and have fun. It`s Saturday after all." The other person reassured.

"Okay. Thanks, Manager!" Aika thanked and turned towards the four devils. "It was nice running into you here. See you at school." She said and headed inside the café.

"That`s some nice manager there if he`s willing to do the job for you." Rias stated with good impression. "And he`s also not afraid to talk to customers too. I admire people like that."

"Indeed. It`s very commendable." Akeno agreed.

However, hearing this voice made Tatsumi`s eyes widen in shock of how familiar it sounded to him. 'This voice…'

"Oh, here he com-" Issei noted upon noticing another figure coming out of the house, but stopped at something that caught his attention. "It`s a m-m-m-monster." He nearly freaked out, while pointing at the person.

"Ise, it`s not polite to point at people like that." Rias scolded her servant.

"B-B-But…" The former was still too scared to notice his mistake.

Noticing his stepbrother`s reaction just told Tatsumi more than enough as everything came to a complete stop for him. Right now, he was having a mental fight inside as a part of him wanted to look at the source of the voice and find out to whom it belonged to, but another didn`t. Just like that he felt that person`s presence slowly coming closer and closer to them by the second, which for him was more than enough to make out the perfect idea of who it was. Fearing to find out, he gripped his left arm with his right hand.

"Hello. Can I have your order please?" The suggested managed finally stopped at their table. Standing before them was a tall man probably in his early thirties. For a manager he wore rather casual clothes with white trousers, while T-Shit and a red apron. However, his hair and eyes couldn`t be seen as he was wearing a white mask on his face.

Seeing this familiar face, Tatsumi began staring that he didn`t notice when it came his turn to order.

"Bro!" Issei called out to him.

"Oh, right." The latter said and looked over to the manager. Just like that, both gazes met each other and complete silence moved in for a moment. 'Does he not remember me?' Tatsumi thought to himself.

"What`s wrong? Is there something you don`t like?" The man asked until something hit him. "Wait, are you Tatsumi-kun?"

'So much for that hope.' The former assassin bit his lower lip. "Good to see you, Bols." He greeted, throwing his friends in a complete awe.

"What?" Issei evoked. "You two know each other?" He turned towards the other boy when he noticed something. "Then, could it be…"

"Here`s not the right place." Tatsumi cut him off.

"How about you come inside? I can prepare some delicious tea and sweets too." Bols suggested and the green-eyed teen nodded. Noticing that, the former imperial soldier turned around and headed back inside, while Rias, Issei and Akeno gave questioned looks to Tatsumi. Unfortunately for them, their friend didn`t say anything and simply got up and made his way to the cafe, leaving them no choice but to follow him as well.

Entering inside, the youngster saw Bols standing beside a table near the bar. Few minutes later all five of them were sitting around the table as the café`s manager had prepared for each of his customers what they ordered. Tea for both boys and Akeno and a black coffee for Rias. Silence was still ruling over the atmosphere as if they were waiting for something to happen to begin.

"You have grown up, Tatsumi-kun. I hardly recognized you." Bols spoke up first.

"We haven`t seen each other for long. Yet, you look exactly the same." The former assassin replied back before a thought to his mind. "Oh, and these are my friends." He said and shot a look at the other three youngsters.

"My name is Rias Gremory. It`s nice to meet you, Bols-san was it?" The club`s leader introduced herself.

"I`m Himejima Akeno. Pleasure to meet you." The other third-year student followed.

"And I`m Hyoudou Issei. Nice to meet you." And finally the other boy introduced himself.

"I`m glad to meet you too. My name is Bols. Feel free to call me how you want." The former Jeager said cheerfully.

'Only one name. So he really is…' Rias concluded to herself. "Um, Bols-san… I`m sorry for asking, but are you really from the same world as Tatsumi?" She decided to ask to be sure.

Hearing that, the man was caught off guard for a moment before he turned towards the green-eyed teen. "So you have told them, Tatsumi-kun?"

"Yeah." The latter answered with a hardly heard voice. "I`m actually living with them. So it was their right to know that I come from another world."

"I see. You did the right thing." Bols agreed. "But to see you here must mean…" He tried to say something, but couldn`t bring himself to finish it.

Despite that, Tatsumi knew what that meant. "Yeah. I died. Then I was somehow given this second chance."

All of a sudden, a door behind the bar opened and Aika came out dressed in her Kuoh Academy`s uniform. "Manager, I`m heading out." She informed before noticing the other four Kuoh students. "Wait, you guys know the manager as well?"

"You see…" Tatsumi started. "…He`s from the same town as me. He had a shop there I visited often and that`s where I know him from." He quickly put a lie.

"Oh, I see. Well, see you!" She said and left the house.

Seeing it, Issei let out a huge sigh of relief. "Talk about cutting it close."

"You know Aika-chan too?" Bols asked curiously.

"She`s Ise`s and Tatsumi`s classmate at the school we attend. Akeno and I are also studying there, but year above them." Rias explained shortly.

"I understand now." Bols replied. "So you`re studying Tatsumi-kun? That`s great." He stated. "You should study well to work a good job later on."

The pure-blooded devil instantly bought this chance and turned towards Tatsumi. "You hear that? Study first, then work."

"Right, right. I get it." The green-eyed teen muttered. He might hated it that they were talking about that, but he was actually glad that the conversation was going in this direction.

However, this relief was suddenly shattered. "That reminds me, Tatsumi-kun. What happened to you?" Bols questioned. "You just ran away from our team like that."

"What? He ran away from the team?" Issei evoked. "But wasn`t Bro from Nigh-"

The former assassin saw where his stepbrother was going at and cut him off by hitting his leg with his left one under the table.

"Ow." The said teen groaned in pain.

"Are you okay?" Bols asked with a worried voice.

"I`m sure he just him the table with his leg." Tatsumi lied casually. He then glared at the other boy. In the next moment a sad look appeared on his face and he slightly bowed his head down. "I didn`t want to work for the Empire, which I hated so much."

"Did something bad happen?" The former member of the Jeagers asked.

"The village I lived in was extremely poor because it was deep in the mountains. That`s why the people of it asked the Capital to send us money." Tatsumi started. "But from the Capital no one showed to care about us. They kept and kept ignoring us no matter how hard we tried." He stopped for a moment. "And so when I grew up enough, I together with two friends of my age headed off for the Capital. Our goal was to find a good job, earn a lot of money and send it back to the village. But when we arrived the way we were treated by the people in the Capital was cruel. So cruel that it even took the lives of my friends."

Silence moved in for a moment again in which Tatsumi paused, while his fellow friends were refraining themselves from saying anything and lastly, the man was standing still as if his gaze was fixed on Tatsumi alone.

"It must have been tough." Bols finally said. "I`m sorry to hear that."

"You don`t have to apologize for anything." The former member of Night Raid replied back. He was actually surprised of himself. In order to hide the truth about his occupation from Bols he ended up telling his story before that.

"So is that why you ran from the Jeagers?" Bols asked again.

'Jeagers? Not Night Raid.' Rias instantly recognized the different names.

"You could say so." Tatsumi answered indirectly. "Actually by that time, I had decided to join the Revolutionary Army instead." He stopped for a second and just when the man was about to speak he resumed talking. "I even said that to Esdeath and asked her to come with me."

"You asked general Esdeath such thing?" Bols replied in disbelief. "That`s simply unthinkable."

'Tell me something I don`t know.' Tatsumi commented to himself. "Of course she refused." He said. "So I ran away on the next day. After that I went in the mountains to train myself when some new danger beasts appeared and started attacking people. So I decided to hunt them. What happened next is a long story." He explained, using what he told Esdeath a while back as a source.

"I see." The masked man nodded. "It`s a shame it turned out like that. You and Wave-kun really got along." He said with a saddened voice.

"Yeah. He was a nice guy." Tatsumi agreed.

"Kurome-chan too. She was a good girl." Bols continued to reminisce, while Tatsumi began to fear where this conversation was going.

"Kurome?" Akeno repeated in confusion. "It`s kind similar to-"

"That`s about enough for now." The green-eyed teen cut her before she could finish. "We should go."

"Eh? But why?" The other second-year student asked even more confused. "It`s still early."

"We must." His stepbrother repeated insisting.

"Is that so? I`m terribly sorry to keep you here then." Bols apologized. "At least let me treat you this time."

"That`s not necessary. We`re customers after all." Rias refused politely.

"It`s fine." The former imperial soldier reassured. "You`re all such wonderful children. Besides…" He turned towards Tatsumi. "I was able to see someone I know. That alone makes me happy." He added.

"Me too, Bols." The said teen replied back with a smile. 'Me too.'

"We don`t have any choice, but to accept it then." The crimson-haired woman accepted the offer.

"Thank you very much!" Akeno thanked, bowing before the older person.

"Yeah, thanks!" Issei thanked as well.

"No need. I do it because I like it." Bols reassured again.

"We`ll be going then." Tatsumi waved as he and the rest made their way for the entrance.

"Ah, wait a second, Tatsumi-kun." The former member of Jeagers called out.

"What is it?" The latter asked.

"You didn`t tell me. Which one is it? The red-haired or black-haired one?" Bols questioned curiously.

It took few seconds before Tatsumi understood what the man was talking about. His face got bright red. "H-How did you know?"

"I may not look like it, but I was married for six years. I even had a child." Bols stated proudly. "I can see when someone`s in love."

"Woah, awesome!" Issei commented.

Tatsumi was still blushing madly. He could hear his stepbrother snickering behind him. "It`s… Akeno." He confessed, ignoring them.

"I see." His former enemy said. "She looks like a good girl. Treasure her a lot."

"Y-Yeah! I will." Tatsumi returned.

"So Rias-chan is with Issei-kun?" The masked man guessed turning towards the other boy. "The same goes for you."

"Yes!" The other boy almost shouted out in reply. "I`ll try my best."

"Good answers." Bols said. "Well, goodbye then. Feel free to come here again. I`ll prepare some sweets next time."

"Okay." Tatsumi agreed. "It was good seeing you. Goodbye!"

"Goodbye!" His fellow devils waved as well as the four disappeared through the exit.

Getting outside, the youngsters decided to head for the city quay where they can watch the sunset. With destination in mind, they made a right turn and after crossing a street, entered a park that was supposed to lead them near the seaside. About five minutes had passed since they left the café and Issei, Akeno and Rias started talking between each other, but Tatsumi remained silent. The meeting he had with Esdeath few months ago was one of kind shock. Back then fear of his new friends` safety was raging inside him. However, this was a different kind. This had reminded Tatsumi of how cruel his world was by putting people who have so many reasons to survive against each other. A world where even sisters had to fight to kill each other. While he was glad that Bols received a second chance in life, he knew that Bols might not think the same. Stranded in another world away from his wife and daughter must be unbearable for the former soldier. While thinking about it, an image of his own village and the people who lived in it passed through Tatsumi`s mind.

"I`m sorry everyone… I won`t be coming back." He whispered.

"You said something Bro?" Issei questioned, turning towards his fellow classmate.

"Nothing. Just talking to myself is all." The latter replied back.

"Say, Tatsumi!" Rias called out. "Who exactly is this Bols person?"

Hearing, the said boy stopped at his tracks. He knew he had to explain about that sooner or later, but this was definitely a bad timing to talk about it. But having things reaching this point already, he had to comply with the wanted explanation. Eyeing his surroundings for nearby people, he fortunately found no one in sight.

Taking a heavy sigh, Tatsumi started talking. "Bols was soldier of the Empire`s army. There he was part of an incarnation squad, which performed large-scale executions."

"Him? No way!" Issei protested. "But he is such a nice guy."

"Even so, it`s the truth." The green-eyed devil stated coldly. "At one point he was even ordered to burn an entire village that was assumed to support the Revolutionary Army." He stopped for a second as the other three youngsters gasped in shock. "He was later sent back to the Capital to be a part of a special team. That team name was Jeagers. Team lead by Esdeath herself. It had the job to eliminate all threats to the Empire. Highest priority of which was Night Raid."

"Then... you and Bols-san were…" Rias gathered the pieces, but couldn`t finish.

"Enemies." The former assassin confirmed. "I know Bols from the time when Esdeath dragged me in their base." He said and paused again. "After that I ran away and our team was forced to retreat from the Capital for some times. But two months later the Jeagers finally caught onto us. That`s why Boss came up with the plan to lure them out of the Capital, split them and defeat them. All that while, requests came to eliminate some targets among the Jeagers. One of them was Bols. When the day came an intense battle occurred, at the end of which we managed to kill him."

Issei`s eyes went wide as plates as his stepbrother`s words hammered in his ears. "WHY DID YOU? HOW COULD YOU?" He literally exploded in anger. "He is such a nice person." He continued to shout at the other boy.

"Ise!" Rias called out to her servant, but he paid no attention.

"He even had a family. Yet you and your group!"

"Please stop, Ise!" Rias was beginning to plead.

"You took him away from his family! YOU-"

"I KNOW THAT, DAMN IT" Tatsumi roared out, silencing Issei on the spot. "I FUCKING KNOW IT."

"Tatsumi?" Akeno couldn`t believe it. For the first time she heard him shout like this. Ever since she met him he has been composed through all of the time. There were times in which he was on the verge of exploding, but had never done so. It was like something he had gone through was reminding him not to. But what was it? A part of knowing that he comes from another world and being a former assassin, there was nothing else known about him. Right now Akeno`s desire to learn more about him escalated just like the teen in question had just burst out of his shell. 'What are you not telling us Tatsumi? What have you gone through?'

In the meantime, silence was ruling over the atmosphere. Noticing that, Tatsumi took this chance to speak. "What we did was nothing short of murders. That I can`t deny. But that was all we could do. This was the life in the shadows. Assassins, soldiers… We fought, taking the lives of others, risking our own lives. Every target we don`t kill could end up in many innocent people dying because of it. That was the only way we could change anything. That was the reality before us. That`s why Night Raid was there!"

Another period of silence moved in. "Sorry." Issei finally broke it with his apology.

"Just forget about it." Tatsumi pushed it aside and then all of a sudden turned towards Issei and glared at him. Seeing that sent chills down the Japanese boy`s body. He freaked out so much that he began to think that he`s going to get beaten pretty badly. For his surprise nothing like that happened. "And you two behind the big tree. Come out already." Tatsumi shouted out.

The other three youngsters were left confused for a second as they turned around and narrowed their eyes at a certain large tree in about five meters to their left.

"Man, I wanted to wait until you calmed down. Guess it can`t be helped." A voice came from the same direction.

In the next second, the figures appeared from behind the object and started walking towards them. One of them was a tall handsome young man with short, black hair and violet eyes. He had a very muscular body and wore white vest over black long-sleeved shirt, big white belt and black trousers and finished by black shoes. The other one was a beautiful girl around the same age with blonde hair tied in ponytail.

"Oh my, isn`t that-" Akeno said recognized the newcomers.

"Sairaorg!" Rias called out upon the sight of her cousin.

"What?" Issei evoked almost automatically. "He is the one we have to fight next week?"

Tatsumi instantly took notice. 'So we`re up against this guy.'

"Hey, Rias! Looking good I see." Her relative greeted. The woman next to him bowed her head in sign of honor, but remained silent.

"Why are you here?" The crimson-haired woman asked still in disbelief.

"I came here to say hi before the match." The latter replied back. "It`s not every day I get to fight my cousin and her team." He added and turned towards the other Occult Research Members.

"Pleasure to see you, Sairaorg-san." Akeno greeted by bowing at the man.

"You have grown up. I hear you`ve become a fine lady and really strong too." The heir to the Bael family commented.

"Thank you very much!" Himejima thanked.

"And let`s not forget Hyoudou Issei, The Red Dragon Emperor." Sairaorg turned towards the said teen as a large smile formed on his face. "Rumors say you drove your arch enemy, the White one, to retreat. And you even defeated the fallen angel Kokabiel in one-on-one." Sairaorg showered him with praises. "It seems you`ve become quite stronger after your match with Riser-dono. Keep it that way."

"Yes, sir! I will. Nice to meet you." Issei responded like a machine.

'What`s with that reply?' Tatsumi barely kept himself from doing a facepalm.

"Ah, and you…" His attention was suddenly caught when he heard Sairaorg speaking to him. "So you`re the one that lord Sirzechs personally complimented to me. The former assassin and _her_ pawn, Hyoudou Tatsumi."

"Yes. That would be me." The green-eyed teen returned, not taking his eyes of Sairaorg.

Hearing that, an even larger smile appeared on the Strongest Youth`s face. Just like that he remembered about something. "Oh, right. Rias and her queen know, but for you boys." He said and turned towards the blonde-haired woman. "This is my queen, Kuisha Abbadon."

"It`s nice to meet you." Kuisha greeted politely.

"Same here." The two stepbrothers replied back.

"Well, then… We`re off to train and prepare. See you." Sairaorg waved as he and his queen turned around and started walking to somewhere. "And you, Hyoudou Tatsumi… I hope you can participate in our match. I want to try fighting you."

While they were watching the other two devils disappear, something the tall man said caught Akeno`s attention. 'He hopes Tatsumi can participate? And why did he mean by _her_ pawn?' She began thinking over it.

"Akeno?" Rias called out to her best friend. "We`re going."

"Ah, yes." The black-haired woman said, brushing her thoughts the side as she joined the rest.

Fifteen minutes later the four youngster finally reached the seaside and the quay, which was in the far right of the coast, just below the hill on which was the Gremory mansion. The quay was made of wood with high wooden parapet and was about two meters five meters wide and twelve meters long. Getting there, the devils walked all the way to the end of it where the split in pairs of two in the two opposite horizontal sides of it. At one Issei and Rias and in the other, Tatsumi and Akeno.

The club`s leader and her love interest watched the sunset and enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere.

"Today was a really good day." Rias said, while looking at the distant horizon. "Thank you for taking me on a date, Ise. I`ll always remember it." She thanked turning towards the Japanese boy. With big smile on her face, her hair blowing backwards from the breeze that came from the ocean and her eyes fixed on him. Issei could feel time coming to a complete stop.

He didn`t know what to do, but he wanted to be useful to this young girl. He simply wanted to never see her cry again like she had upon his defeat from Riser in the first match. He just wanted to make her happy and be there for her. For that, he was willing to go to world`s end if needed. For Issei, Rias was the person that changed his life from that of a normal boy with no friends to someone loved by many. Ever since that, he met Asia and the rest and continued to meet great people. Words were not enough to describe how grateful he was to Rias for all of that. For filling his life with some many joyful moments.

"I-I`ll do it anytime for you. No matter how many times. I`ll do everything for you." Issei finally replied back with a smile.

Tears surfaced in the bags of her eyes. She was moved by this boy once again. In the next moment she slowly closed the distance between them and their heads and pressed her lips against his. The boy was left surprised for the next few seconds until she pulled back. "Thank you, my cute Ise!" Rias smiled back.

On the other side, Tatsumi and Akeno were also watching the beautiful scenery before their eyes. Silence between them as both didn`t know what to say at this point. Only the weak wind that crashed against their faces and brushed their hair back was making any kind of noise. Still, it wasn`t enough to break the current atmosphere between them. Tatsumi somehow felt responsible for the awkward situation.

"Sorry." He whispered, but enough to be heard.

"About what?" Akeno asked in confusion.

"For what happened at the café. Also for back when I let it loose." He replied back while looking at his feet. "I know how much you wanted to have a good time. I just messed it up."

His gaze was moved when he felt something placing on his right shoulder. Turning that way, the boy saw Akeno leaning against him with her head on his shoulder. A moment later, he even felt how she grabbed his right hand and brought it closer to her. Stunned, Tatsumi began to watch at the young woman.

"You did nothing wrong. There was no way you knew this would happen." She reassured. "I had a lot fun today. With my best friend, with a precious junior, and with…" She stopped and gave him a playful look. "…with the boy I love." She finished and gently kissed him on the lips. Pulling away she smiled at him. "It makes me want to continue living like that. Like normal people." She said as she eyed the horizon

"Yeah, me too." Tatsumi replied back with a smile. Although in truth, he knew that was only a wishful thinking. Life as an assassin had taught him that peaceful days like that could crumble without a notice. And for him that was applied even more. Having killed people he had committed an unforgivable sin. As such he was bound to pay for his crimes, be that sooner or later. Even so, he would never give up and accept it so lightly. Instead, he was ready to fight over and over again, no matter how many times it required him to. It was how he was feeling even now at this moment. 'I`ll protect everyone. No matter what.' With these thoughts in mind Tatsumi looked at the spreading blue ocean before them.

All of a sudden, footsteps caught their attention as they turned around to see the other two devils walking towards them.

"Let`s go." Rias said as she and Issei started on the way back from the quay, instantly followed by Tatsumi and Akeno.

_To be continued in chapter 21 – Dragons confrontation_

**A/N: Hey there, everyone!**

**Well, I won`t make mountain of excuses on why I haven`t update in such long time. I`m just going to say that I really couldn`t do it faster than this. But now since I came back to my country I will try to liven up things with my stories. For those who have abandoned my story, then sorry for disappointing you. For those who are still sticking with me, thank you for the big support. It means a lot.**

**So moving on, here you finally have chapter 20 of my story. In this one I aimed to show the way Tatsumi and the rest live their peaceful days and how they are not everlasting. And here we reach probably the most important part for you all, Bols appearance. The reason why I decided to bring him here, is well, I like Bols. He was a nice person, who just worked the wrong job. Still, I tried to leave things uncertain about whether he will make more appearance or not. Why? Because I thought putting him the burden of fighting again was too much, hence the idea of his now normal life. Another minor appearance in this chapter is Kiriyuu Aika.**

**Well, another thing is finally introducing Sairaorg, who I plan to leave some influence to this story. Telling you more than that will be counted as spoilers.**

**Now about next chapter, I`m still not sure about the title, but it most probably will be the one I have come up for now. Looking this way, it appears it will turn out really big, but I`m still not sure whether to split in parts like I did with chapters 19 and 20, which were supposed to be one chapters. Even so, I`ll try my hardest to finish it faster than this one.**

**Now, this time I actually have some news about my two others stories, which are 'Unbreakable Love' and 'Reborn as a Campione'. **

**So about the first: I`m sorry, but I have decided to cancel it. I just can`t find ideas to grab onto in order to continue it. And the way the original FT manga is going so far just ruined my motivation and inspiration for it. So I`m sorry, but this is the end for 'Unbreakable Love'.**

**The second one: Here the news are half good, half bad. Why? Half bad because I`m unsatisfied with the way it started. Half good is because I decided to restart it from the beginning. It will still have the same name, plot and main characters. However, this time I decided to follow Campione`s story from the start and proceed onward. So yeah, expect a comeback for 'Reborn as a Campione' in the near future. When I still don`t know.**

**That`s all I wanted to share with you. Thanks for listening, or rather – reading. As always thanks for spearing time to read my story. Reviews are mostly welcomed, but guests` reviews that ask questions will be deleted.**

**See you again!**

**~Kris **


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